'Overwatch' Dafran Banned: Highest-ranked player in North America was banned for trolling on Twitch

Overwatch — like most online games — has a problem with trolling. Not just with harassment, which is unfortunately popular, but also throwing. Players will either purposely lose competitive matches or even leave them, sometimes out of anger and other times to make their team angry.

In response, Blizzard has tried to discourage this behavior by cracking down on leavers. Dafran, the highest-ranked player in North America, was banned from Overwatch for trolling during his competitive games. He was broadcasting his trolls on Twitch and encouraging his viewers to engage in the same behavior.

Overwatch trolling on Twitch cost Dafran his career — but he doesn't care.

According to a post on Reddit, Dafran was on Twitch and intentionally throwing matches. Reddit user, "nnyn211," said that Dafran "also called the throwing group 'Overwatch Isis.'"

Dafran hasn't received much in the way of support for his actions. Even fellow pro player Anthony "Harbleu" Ballo expressed his disappointment via Twitter.

As Stylosa said in his video on the subject, a lot of the disappointment from the community comes from the fact that Dafran used to work a fast-food job and got an opportunity that a lot of other high-ranking gamers dream of.

Worse still, Dafran has been consistently smug and aggressive throughout this entire situation. Even when he decided to stop trolling, he posted that he doesn't "give a shit what happens to [him] and [his] fucking career..."

It's been interesting to see how Blizzard reacted to the series of events. Overwatch community members have all been surprised how tough Blizzard has been on cracking down on Dafran.

Blizzard as effectively banned Dafran from the entirety of Season 5 of competitive, as well as all professional tournaments in the near future. His team, Selfless, will still be able to compete.

It's also worth noting that in the statement by Selfess, they talk about getting Dafran counseling and support for his mental and emotional health — so perhaps there was more going on than what has come to the public's attention.

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