Destiny 2 community manager Dylan Gafner, better known to Destiny fans as dmg04, will be stepping down at the end of the year, according to a post he shared to his personal Twitter account. Though there are other community managers on the Destiny 2 team, Gafner is widely known as the primary liaison between the developers and the multiplayer game’s community. He’s been part of the Bungie team for more than seven years.
“Wanted to give a heads up that I’ll be stepping down from Community Management on December 30. At this time in my career, I’m thinking of embracing a new direction,” he shared via an image post. Gafner, who presently holds the title of Senior Community Manager, expresses his interest in pursuing a different communications role in the games industry, trying his hand at game design, or possibly going in an entirely new direction.
He then thanks Bungie for the opportunity and shares how his experiences with the company’s many initiatives and the Destiny 2 community have impacted his life.
Taking a leap of faith.
Stepping down as Senior CM, final day at Bungie coming on December 30.
Don’t know where the future will take me, but looking forward to new opportunities and new challenges.
Thank you all for your time over the years. Full message below.
— dmg04 (@A_dmg04) December 15, 2022
The post, which has been ‘liked’ more than 20,000 times, features replies that offer words of heartfelt thanks and support from some of the Destiny franchise’s most notable past and present players, including Twitch streamer Gladd, YouTubers DrLupo and Byf, and journalist Paul Tassi.
Gafner is also known for taking the helm on many of the posts in Bungie’s This Week at Bungie (TWAB) blog post series. Many TWABs are thousands of words long and cover the company’s activities in detail. They have amassed a steady readership due to their transparency and depth of insight into the inner workings of the game development studio.
His penchant for bread memes, related to a charity event in which he agreed to eat a slice of bread for every $10,000 donated – not anticipating the stream would raise $400,000 – also contributed to his status as a notable personality within the Destiny 2 community.
It’s tough to serve as a community manager in gaming, but Gafner showed how powerful it can be for a brand to run a community team properly. Fans of the game appreciate him due to a history of measured responses and enthusiasm for strengthening Bungie’s relationship with Destiny 2 players. His contributions likely played an important role in the 2022 Game Awards decision to nominate Bungie’s Destiny 2 team for the Best Community Support award.
While it’s unfortunate that he won’t stay on for the Destiny 2 Lightfall release and the launch of the forthcoming Destiny 2 Strand subclass, his work through Destiny 2 season 19 will likely continue to influence Destiny 2’s entire community ecosystem for years to come.
