Can someone explain Discord?

[76mm]

Lots of game developers, etc. are starting up Discord servers these days, so I've signed up for a few. But I don't get it...Discord reminds me of an even less attractive, less organized, 21st Century version of ConsimWorld (not meant as a compliment).

But maybe I'm missing something...Those of you who like Discord, what do you like about it? How do you use it?

[LarryP]

I hate it. I tried to like it but it failed to prove different. I have no idea why devs are using it so much.

[mainsworthy]

i dont like it, but the advantage is you can startup temp sub forums as you go, the people on there dont seem to be interested in games more like chatting. it seems to be the current buzz. you can get an app or use browser, and you can get into private forums by invite. i would say its an excuse for chatters

[76mm]

The other popular game discussion platform that I am not a fan of is groups.io. But even that is better than Discord.

[Zovs]

Discord is not bad, it’s more like a text chatting app, there is some good channels.

[bayonetbrant]

the primary differentiator for Discord is that it's real-time. There's A/V channels alongside the text channels that you can stream/share to the rest of the server audience, with almost no overhead at all.

If you're using it for long-term recall of the text-based content, then you're using it toward a purpose it's not intended

If you're using it to organize and share content in near-real-time, like organizing a live session of a game, or playing a TTRPG in real time, where people can all talk together while the GM shares text / picture content, then Discord works really well


There are a bunch of us that use them as the "home base" for digital conventions, where Discord acts as the "hotel lobby" for the participants, and then branch off into their game rooms with dedicated AV/chat channels for the GMs to run their games.

The Kriegsspiel guys love Discord b/c they can control the flow of info on an individual player info, and they can share info across multiple participants with some pretty low-overhead role creations & designation.

Assign people to "roles" based on the team they're playing on, and where they are on the battlefield, and you can send messages just to red or blue, just to the uphill or downhill parts of the battlefield, or to individual people, all of which helps keep the fog of war consistent for all players

[mainsworthy]

now TTRPG on discord, thats sounds great! def suited to that

[demyansk]

I use Discord to chat with players in a squad while we play Battlefield 5. I have about seven servers I belong to and it’s a good way to post links for news on games etc. I even have a server with some other players to play Tank Duel on Vassal. They invite me to play but I have missed the games. I also use it to talk to my brother. I just call him and he picks up if the smart phone is on. I think the call quality is real good. You could use Discord instead of a phone, I use on this tablet and on the desktop. You can have push to talk and voice activation.

It’s not bad and Free

[76mm]

ORIGINAL: bayonetbrant
If you're using it for long-term recall of the text-based content, then you're using it toward a purpose it's not intended

What you say makes sense, but unless I'm missing something, this is exactly how many game devs seem to be using Discord...as mentioned above, the result is like an even worse version of Consimworld.

I can see how Discord could be useful for the purposes you describe.

[bayonetbrant]

ORIGINAL: 76mm

ORIGINAL: bayonetbrant
If you're using it for long-term recall of the text-based content, then you're using it toward a purpose it's not intended

What you say makes sense, but unless I'm missing something, this is exactly how many game devs seem to be using Discord...

Hey, people use wrenches as hammers all the time, too! [:D]

[bayonetbrant]

ORIGINAL: mainsworthy

now TTRPG on discord, thats sounds great! def suited to that

we had a T2K game at our last ACDC and it went over *very* well

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: 76mm

Lots of game developers, etc. are starting up Discord servers these days, so I've signed up for a few. But I don't get it...Discord reminds me of an even less attractive, less organized, 21st Century version of ConsimWorld (not meant as a compliment).

But maybe I'm missing something...Those of you who like Discord, what do you like about it? How do you use it?

I do not get it either.

So I am likely to miss something as well. Further explanation is needed for me to get it.

[jbmoore68]

I see more and more developers going to these things, I will be left out also, I always got everything I needed in the forums, but I guess everything is changing these days. That's OK, I think I have enough games/wargames to last me for a while.

[madflava13]

Playing a lot of Eve Online these days - we use it for in and out of game communication. It works really well.

[bayonetbrant]

keep in mind that Discord is just one of several tools that have fundamentally similar skill sets, include Slack, and MS Teams.

They each have some distinguishing features that separate them from the others, but fundamentally, they're all real-time channel-based comms tools.

[Kuokkanen]

Week ago I got an e-mail from Discord that my account has been deactivated for violating terms of service. I'm not even sure if I typed anything on it on that day or the day before. I sure have participated in discussion about history, war, related games, politics, news, got into heated argument with a moderator and got booted from server, got welcomed back by admin... Other than that, I'm drawing blank. I registered on Guilded. Functionality is much the same as Discord, but allegedly more free speech. So yeah, you won't see me on Discord anymore [:@]

[deeter]

Since more game developers are using it, that's where I go to find out about these games. Just seems like another forum to me.

[Tejszd]

The problem with Discord is knowing that the game your interested in is there and people are discussing it.

I’m a Close Combat fan and the forum here doesn’t get much traffic compared to Discord so if I was a potential new player I would think the community/game is dead....

[Kuokkanen]

Did someone call Discord a forum? It's not. It's a real time chat like IRC or TeamSpeak, just with little more features. Same goes to Guilded. Anyone in here using it?

[Mobeer]

Works really well if you have a clan or squad etc that discuss plans outside of the game being played. The chat channels need to be well organised and disciplined.