Today, video games and the internet go hand-in-hand. It’s the internet, which eliminates all the hassle of being in bustling crowds of a gaming arcade or gathering friends for a round or 2. The internet makes it possible for gamers to play with others who may be present in different cities, countries, or simply anywhere in the world.
Discord is a tool, which allows gamers to communicate via call, text, or video while playing with friends. It is one of the most popular communication platforms for gamers to interact with each other online.
Whether you are a part of a club at your school, a gaming group, or any other community, you can spend more time socializing with other players from the comfort of your home.
This article will educate you about everything related to the Discord server – what it is, how it works, etc.
Understanding Discord
What is a Discord Server? To get an answer to this question, let us first understand the term ‘Discord’. To begin with, Discord is a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) based software mainly designed to encourage communication between communities through voice calls, text messages, video chats, files, and media. The communication through this application occurs in private chats or communities that are known as servers.
Discord can run on different operating systems, like Android, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Linux.
Benefits of Using a Discord Server
- Receive an invite and start chatting
Discord servers consist of topic-based channels allowing you to collaborate and chat with your friends.
- You can easily hang out
Grab a seat while you are free and communicate with your friends who can see if you are available online and vice versa.
- From a single to a community
Create a community of any strength using moderation tools and customize member access while establishing private channels to communicate.
How Can You Join Discord?
Though there are other ways to communicate while playing online, most of them work on particular consoles. However, Discord is not platform-specific. You can connect it with your Xbox account as well as PlayStation. This platform-independent feature of Discord also makes it apt for communicating casually with friends or family.
Joining Discord is not a tough task and simply requires you to download the Discord applications on your device. Afterward, you just have to search for a server, accept an invite or create a server of your own and join it. A server consists of channels through which server members can communicate over text messages, voice calls or video calls, and screen sharing.
You can sort the channels into categories while creating them. You can see the server members on the right while servers and channels are present on the left. On the top, you can add and text friends, search for servers, and check if you are mentioned there.
One user can join around 100 servers, and you can decide on the particular server for which you want to receive notifications. You can name yourself every time you join a server. Also, it is possible to invite friends from another server.
A single server can host around 250,000 members; however, if more than 25,000 people are online at the same time, users will have to contact Discord Support for extra server space to prevent any errors.
The maximum limit of server categories is 50, and the maximum amount of channels is 500.
How to Join a Discord Server on a Computer
Joining a Discord server requires you to have an invite link. Usually, the link expires within 24 hours after it’s created; that means, you have to join the server using the link right after receiving it.
However, you can join your wished server without any invite-link as well. Here’s how you can join a server without any invite link.
Go to the search icon in the left sidebar and look for a server by entering a name or keyword in the search bar.
Here are the steps that you need to follow to join a Discord server using an invite link:
- Step 1 – Open the Discord app and sign in to your account, if required
- Step 2 – Select the plus icon on the sidebar
- Step 3 – Choose ‘Join a Server’
- Step 4 – Paste the invite link and click ‘Join’
How to Join a Discord Server on a Mobile Device
- Step 1 – Open the Discord application on your mobile device and log in
- Step 2 – Click on the three stacked lines (hamburger button) present at the top-left side of the screen
- Step 3 – Click on the ‘+’ sign in the server menu
- Step 4 – Now select ‘Join a Server’
- Step 5 – Finally, paste the invite link and select ‘Join’
How to Use Discord?
Discord is a feature-rich platform. A group of gamers playing the same kind of games can easily hop between different gaming consoles using the same server while accessing it from any device. Discord is also favorable for players who use Crossplay and play with gamers using different consoles.
Discord provides both public and private servers. Public servers work best when people are more interested in chatting with each other with the motive of fostering their community. However, you can create custom emoticons for the server also, which will spice up the conversation with your fellow gamers.
Developers interact with gamers on Discord servers in order to get insights on fixing bugs or other glitches occurring on the same platform. A lot of verified servers like “Among Us” can have around 5,00,000 users.
Though Discord comes with a video chat feature, it still cannot stand against Twitch or other live streaming platforms that support video game live streaming. Discord actually complements Twitch. You can communicate with other fans in Discord while watching your favorite live streamer. Streamers also reward their users who use Discord with Twitch, YouTube, etc., with uninterrupted access to their servers. Discord can also be used to stream Jackbox games among gamers.
Does it Cost any Money to Use Discord?
You can download Discord free of cost; however, if you wish to use its premium services, you need to subscribe to Discord Nitro, which is available in 2 versions:
- Discord Nitro Classic is the cheaper premium subscription that can be availed at $5 a month or $50 per annum. With this plan, you can change your 4-digit username tag, use custom emojis, get a Nitro badge for your profile while also being able to convert animated GIFs to avatar emojis and images. This plan also improves the video quality with live streaming of 1080p at 60fps. At the same time, the screen can be shared either in 720p at 60fps or 1080p at 30fps.
- The Discord Nitro version is almost similar to Discord Nitro Classic but comes with a few added perks. To avail this plan, you have to pay $10 a month or $100 a year. It allows you to upload files up to 100MB, which is more when compared to Nitro Classic that has a capping of 50MB. This plan also offers 2 server boosts. When a server is boosted enough, it reaches a higher level and unlocks more features for all the users of that server. The added features include a vanity URL, more emoji slots, animated icons, custom invite artwork, a server banner as well as improved video quality, and higher upload limits which are otherwise offered to only paid subscribers. So, even if a user doesn’t pay, they still get premium benefits if the server’s sense of community is powerful.
Conclusion
To conclude, Discord is not just a communication platform for gamers but also non-gamers can use its advanced communication features. Besides gaming, teenagers also use Discord for several purposes ranging from studying to watching Netflix together in a group. Now, you can also use Discord server and enjoy all these intriguing features.
People are also reading: