Overwatch World Cup Controversy After Streamer Dafran Snubbed for National Committee
The announcement of the Overwatch World Cup national committees has generated some controversy after popular streamer Daniel ‘dafran’ Francesca missed out on the Community Lead position for Denmark.
The Community Lead position on the National Committees was decided by fan vote, with all Overwatch players able to vote for the representative for their respective country.
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Dafran was expected to be a lock for the Denmark Community Lead position, but when the national committees were announced, it was instead the largely unknown Lene ‘Xperiana’ Gaardmand, a streamer with a little over 500 Twitch followers and 200 Twitter followers – tiny figures compared to Dafran’s 226,000 and 20,000, respectively – who was selected.
The idea that Xperiana received the most votes is therefore almost inconceivable, leaving many – including Dafran – to question what had happened.
Congrats to the person who won the danish community lead but it is obviously rigged as fuck, why involve me in the vote then
— dafran (@dafran) May 31, 2018
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It seems highly likely that Dafran was disqualified for the position. One of the stipulations for being on the national committees was that all of the candidate’s Blizzard accounts be in good standing.
Unfortunately for Dafran, his account was banned mere days before the voting closed, after using a game exploit while streaming – although Dafran had earlier been warned to mind his behaviour after receiving several reports from players.
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Dafran also received a more significant ban in June of 2017, with Blizzard suspending him from sanctioned events for the duration of Season 5 and banning him from competing in Overwatch Contenders seasons zero and one, prior to the Overwatch League.
Given that Dafran was allowed on the ballot in the first place, however, it stands to reason that the more recent infringements are responsible for his apparent disqualification.
Xperiana gave her own take on the matter while streaming:
What many fans find most frustrating, however, is that their vote was essentially invalidated by the fact that they were unknowingly voting for a candidate that couldn’t win. Had Dafran not been on the ballot at all, or removed prior to the end of the voting, it’s entirely possible that the outcome would have been different.
Blizzard has not yet made a statement on the matter.
