Discord

Discord

by Maryuoma Ahmed

​What is discord?

​Discord is a chat app, similar to programs such as Skype or TeamSpeak, or professional communications platforms like Slack. It’s geared specifically toward video game players, providing them with ways to find each other, coordinate play, and talk while playing. It supports video calls, voice chat, and text, allowing users to get in touch however they please.

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Make freinds

The easiest way to add friends to your list is by finding their names in servers you’ve already joined. You can right-click on a user name to find an “Add Friend” button at the bottom of the screen, which will send a friend request to that user. You can also click a user name and pull up that person’s User Profile, where another button is located for you to add the person as a friend. So while adding a friend it's pretty hard for some reasons like you'll need the code the exact name and even more!​

Connect accounts and build a profile​

Connecting accounts is easy and works the same as with other chat or social media apps — mostly by just allowing you to connect by prompting you for your password for other accounts. The additional functionality of being able to find people you meet on Discord on other media portals has the added function of making Discord into more of a social network itself. If you’re using it to access public servers to find like-minded players in various games, it can be a handy way to meet people.​

Be heard​

Voice chat on Discord is pretty easy. Entering a voice channel on a server automatically turns on your microphone, provided you have a working one attached to your computer. You can also access voice chat by creating voice calls or group calls to friends by clicking the phone icon on your Friends List.Once you’re in voice chat, Discord offers some handy quick controls at the bottom of the voice chat window or channel window. Clicking the microphone icon mutes your own mic instantly, while clicking the headphones icon activates “deafen.” That kills all incoming sound from Discord, as well as mutes your microphone. You can also adjust your audio settings for voice chat and video in the Settings menu, which is accessed by clicking the gear icon. Getting out of a voice call or voice channel on a server requires you to hit the “hang up” icon, which is a phone with an arrow pointing down.​

Texting it up​

1. As you start navigating servers and channels, you can write text messages to anyone quickly and easily using the text field at the bottom of the Discord screen. There’s a lot more going on here than just knocking out quick messages, though. You can drag GIFs and images into chat by dragging them into the text field or using the “upload” button on the left side of the text window. If you want to edit or delete a message you’ve already sent, simply hover over the message and click the pencil icon to edit or click the “…” button and select delete.​

Control who you see or hear​

When you’re an admin on a server — either because you created it or because the admin of a server you’re on gave you that power — you have even more control over undesirable people hanging around. Right-clicking names includes the ability to deafen users so they can’t hear anything from other users, or to ban them from a server outright.​

Go live​

Once you or someone is streaming through Go Live, you will see an indicator next to their name in the voice chat showing that they are live, at which point you can click the Join Stream to start watching. Discord allows people to stream in 720p at 30fps, 1080p at 60fps, and 4k at 60fps — your quality option depends on the type of Discord account you have (e.g. regular free account, Nitro Classic, and Nitro, respectively).​

​Discord Nirto

While you can use Discord for free, the app also offers a paid subscription called Discord Nitro. People who pay for Discord Nitro, which costs $10 per month or $100 per year, get access to a handful of additional features including the ability to use animated emotes as well as use one server emotes on another, upload bigger files, stream in 4K using Go Live, and boost servers (which helps your favorite servers unlock more functionality and features for its users).Every Nitro user is granted two boosts by default (though you can always purchase more), which they can use on any server they are in. Boosts are helpful to servers because, as previously mentioned, they unlock functionality for everyone in the server, therefore allowing server owners to offer an even better experience. Features that can be unlocked include more emote slots for the server, better audio quality for voice chat, the ability to customize your server with animated server icons and other graphics, a custom vanity URL to share with people, and much more. If you’re interested in learning more about server boosts, Discord has written a  support article explaining all the details, such as how many boosts you need to unlock the three different levels and what functionality you can unlock at each level.​

Going Mobile​

It can be frustrating to use the same program on different devices and use entirely different layouts. Luckily Discord pulls everything together by using similar layouts and functions whether you use it on your desktop or laptop; even the mobile apps on your phone and tablet will be intuitive to use. The good news here is that you don’t need to default to your computer when you want an update on your favorite group chat or gaming server. The mobile app can even video call, start discussions, initiate voice calls, and find thousands of servers across the platform. Mobile Discord and Desktop Discord have the same vital tasks and are equally easy to navigate on any of your devices. When you’re away from your personal device, you can log in to your account via a browser and have immediate access to all of your conversations remotely.​

Where do you get discord?​

Whether you want to use Discord on your desktop or laptop or access it through the web, you can get it on discordapp.com. If you want to use Discord on the go, you can download the app. There are versions for both Android and iOS phones and tablets. Go to the Google Play Store or the iTunes App Store to get the right app for your device.​