Recently, the community has focused on a tweet from one of Bungie’s community managers. The tweet is from Dylan “DMG04” Gafner, who is an employee of Bungie. In the tweet, he shares a sunset along with his appreciation for his job. The accompanying tweet and photo seem to set a crushes tone, however the community replies are turning the photo negative. Gafner has been around the roster of community managers for Bungie for a while now. He has always maintained a positive outlook, which has been hard given the current state of Destiny 2’s player base.
The photo he shared along with a motivational quote, “Will continue to work my ass off and earn my keep until the day I die. Love this place. Love this life. Highs and lows, giving it my all,” was certainly not well received in the comments. Think of opening a can of worms that happens to be filled with angry bees. Gafner is now receiving countless tweets and comments saying that our PVP is an “absolute dumpster fire” and that Bungie for the last five years has been putting out “absolute shit.” One of the more comments, Zio, was ranting on how in his words “they have ruined PVP” and how Sony should “fully dissolve current Bungie” if they want the title to succeed. Shifting their focus to something else seems mild compared to this.
The comments continue to sustain the ideology that the game is a “treadmill chasing a carrot” rather than an enticing game. It feels in the game, and especially in Destiny, that there is a stronger belief that people are being forced off a checklist than being offered a series of rewarding tasks. It was mentioned that a user going by Thonk stated that they left the game due to the “addiction or enjoyment” debate which is worrying to a degree.
Comments have also been filled with their context of the Sony acquisition as well. It was also brought into discussion that their “view makes Sony reconsider dropping your contract,” which is borderline unbelievable. The rumours regarding the state between Bungie and Sony, while sticky, do nothing to confirm anything, hence the gaming division champions controversy.
On the other hand, not everything is depressing in today’s climate. There are quite a few positive comments too. One comment suggested that he “ignore the hate comments,” which is true to a certain extent, as they stem from a “place of jealousy,” which is more positive than most comments. Others, on the other hand, are “the goat” and calling him amazing, so there is this strange co-existence of extreme negativity along with sincere appreciation within the comment section.
This context is highly reflective of the issues of Destiny 2. The game has been experiencing negativity with respect to player sentiment; community managers such as DMG04 are the ones that have to deal with the most criticism. Considering the spokesperson for the developers as well the community must be a truly demanding job.
Also, there is this constant mention of “Bungie layoffs?” A comment saying that “more layoffs are needed” is just cruel, and another wondering if this is the ‘last year of Bungie as a company’ is a bit over the top but definitely representative of the hyperbolic take the community has.
What’s really remarkable is the long history DMG04 has doing this, and enduring the ups and downs of Destiny, and while he does that, he keeps posting celebratory content about how much he enjoys his job. That certainly takes a lot of passion, especially in light of the daily bashing he gets in his tweet replies.
The passion exhibited for the issues faced in Destiny—whether it is an extreme of too much or too little—is clear from this tweet. There is a strong divide between the community. On one side, there are players who are fully committed to the game and, on the other side, there are players who are fully disappointed and burnt out with the game, as well as the development team.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to Destiny, Bungie has also been working on other games, like Marathon, so maybe some of the Destiny 2 resources have been reallocated? It is quite possible that the players’ “fear” about the game not receiving the attention it used to is justified, but again, that is sheer speculation.
At the end of the day, the role of community manager is among the most challenging in gaming. They are the public representatives of these large companies, and they must manage the public’s outrage in difficult times as well as attempt to encourage good will in times of grace. Even though DMG04 is currently facing significant issues in his role, his recent tweet illustrates an exceptional level of commitment to his job.
The earlier mentioned scenario is a clear example of the gaming communities’ tendency to direct their anger towards the very people trying to help them. Certainly, there are valid concerns regarding the game’s content and its balance, but as it stands, the level to which the community manager is being attacked is unwarranted.
Meanwhile, as the community awaits the next Destiny expansion, split between love and frustration, DMG04 continues to receive increasing criticism. Hopefully, the expansion will help improve the situation. Nevertheless, for the time being, DMG04 remains stuck in the middle of a divided and disgruntled community. Fortunately, all the drama has to be dealt with while looking out a wonderful view.
