Discord - Free voice chat with no compromises?

So Mumble is almost impossible because Fury had to host that, and things like Teamspeak and Ventrilo have been good examples of NOT working... So how about this?


Discord is a free voice/IM chat client that is intended for gamers.

First perk is that servers just sort of work for free. You make a server, it goes through the cloud, and appears to go P2P from there, without impacting anything. It uses Opus, which both CurseVoice and Teamspeak use for voice. There's custom hotkeys, low CPU, there's an app for that...

Probably the coolest thing is that it has a browser client. Yeah, you can just sort of RUN Discord from Internet Explorer. You could probably load it on the Xbox 360 browser... not that you could do much on it. But it basically makes it a no-hassle situation. You never need to install anything, it can just be online.

Personally, I like this thing already. The UI is pretty slick, it's got a social connection to allow redirects to other text channels, there's direct messaging, and it appears to have integrations with Steam and game clients. There's even a whole page about how Discord and FFXIV work together really well.

They're also going to add other features to enrich it, like an API system for plug-ins, 1:1 direct calling (currently you can only use the server voice channels), even support for bots that can throw things like Twitter updates to the text.

Again, the whole thing is free for the moment, and I'm slowly looking at this with the though that it can be a very useful client, even outside of SRB2. It's nice to point these things out from time to time.

You can check out Discord's website here, or open the Discord web client right here.

(NOTE: You will need to register before you can use the client. It doesn't seem to ask about age, though. Just an email, a name, and a password will get you started.)

One of the IRC channels I frequent switched over to this. It's not bad, but I prefer to have all of my chats in one place.

And if I'm going to voice-chat something, I'm just going to use Red's Mumble/Plumble, it's there for a reason.

To be fair, if we really wanted to voice chat we could use Skype/Hangout.

Honestly, voice chat seems to go in waves in this community. People get all hyped over it, use it for a bit, and then slowly stop until another year goes by and they get all hyped over it again.

You don't hang out in voice chat rooms, is the thing. You get on when you need to voice chat with a group for something. Usually for whatever online game you're playing with your friends. People assume that a voice chat server is "dead" when nobody's on it because they forget that, and then everyone starts wondering where the new voice chat server is like that's going to "solve" the "issue". I think it's ideal that people are only on my Mumble server when they're using it, anyway; less chance of exceeding my VPS's bandwidth cap and wrecking my bill.

Also, this topic's OP is worded like a blatant advertisement. How much are you getting paid to promote that here? I could use a side job like that if your higher-ups are interested ^_^

The name itself is awesome, honestly. It's bold, dark, and fits very well with the setting of most online games.

Duon the Adventurer said:

To be fair, if we really wanted to voice chat we could use Skype/Hangout.

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You're forced to use Skype in most cases, sadly. Alternatives like this are great, but forget convincing technically illiterate friends or family members to switch over to a new IM client. I even have an aunt who uses a 10-inch Android tablet because she hates how complicated laptops are for her. (And yet here I was on the reverse end a year ago struggling to figure out how to "right click" on my cousin's iPod, so it's a matter of what you learn first.)

Of course, this is a game-centered IM, so I don't feel wrong in being optimistic for it sticking around. You can't seriously play PC games, or build a PC to handle said games, without a basic understanding of how these things work. The majority of users stuck with Skype for LoL voice chats might not have trouble switching over to Discord.

This having a mobile app is nice too, so it simplifies setting up for casual players too.

RedEnchilada said:

You don't hang out in voice chat rooms, is the thing. You get on when you need to voice chat with a group for something. Usually for whatever online game you're playing with your friends. People assume that a voice chat server is "dead" when nobody's on it because they forget that, and then everyone starts wondering where the new voice chat server is like that's going to "solve" the "issue". I think it's ideal that people are only on my Mumble server when they're using it, anyway; less chance of exceeding my VPS's bandwidth cap and wrecking my bill.

Also, this topic's OP is worded like a blatant advertisement. How much are you getting paid to promote that here? I could use a side job like that if your higher-ups are interested ^_^

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I'm paid in the knowledge that I don't have to run 50 damn clients that I have to switch to based on the game.

You also don't hang out in these voice chats. You hang out in the CHAT ROOM. You know, like an IRC. Like the one you use... Except let's face it, #srb2fun is not really the place for game stuff like that. Yeah, you guys trash talk while in Smash, but seriously, that can get cluttered.

I honestly can't tell you how awesome Discord actually is unless... you know, you used it before. The chat rooms literally play out like Skype. You join a server, and the chat rooms have a history and stuff. Then you can just jump into a voice chat like TeamSpeak.

I'm in a TF2 clan, see? And they use TeamSpeak! I never use TeamSpeak. My clan is the only community that uses it. I'm already working on bringing them over to Discord, and they're gonna test it out soon.

Meanwhile, you guys use Mumble. Another community I know uses Ventrilo. I have two groups centrally on old private servers for PS2 games that use Skype. All this stupid dissonance is driving me insane, and I'm not gonna waste my CPU cycles running any of these other things on my rig, I'm trying to max out frames, for god's sake.

Ahem. So yes, honestly, Discord is good, but all you guys are probably seeing is the average bloke just bitching. But surprise, much like an Android VS iOS VS Windows Phone argument, it probably just comes down to what you like.

Me, I like a client that gives me good performance, and isn't exclusive. I mean, I can pop onto Discord from my phone. It also helps that I'm in a group with people I very much enjoy communicating with. That might be enough incentive at the same time.

Seriously, all I can tell you is to try it. Figure out if another game community you play on has a Discord. Load it on your browser, and see if you feel like you give a damn. If you use Skype already, and you don't really have an issue with being pestered, you might find it pretty good. If you literally only use IRC, and probably only use in-game voice chat... probably not for you.

UltimaXtreme said:

I'm in a TF2 clan, see? And they use TeamSpeak! I never use TeamSpeak. My clan is the only community that uses it. I'm already working on bringing them over to Discord, and they're gonna test it out soon.

Meanwhile, you guys use Mumble. Another community I know uses Ventrilo. I have two groups centrally on old private servers for PS2 games that use Skype. All this stupid dissonance is driving me insane, and I'm not gonna waste my CPU cycles running any of these other things on my rig, I'm trying to max out frames, for god's sake.

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Uh, all I can think of is that you're just enacting this old xkcd: https://xkcd.com/927/

The LAST thing I need is another voice chat client =P

What I'd really like are more IM clients that can talk to each other. If it weren't for Skype being a junk propriety protocol that no one has or wants to crack into like for MSN, I could use Pidgin to talk to literally everyone from one client. Not this running four or five IM clients at once nonsense like one of my friends do. (I feel sorry for his poor laptop's performance.)

This is one reason why mobile-only IMs bother me so much. It fragments communication instead of unifies it; they create more problems than they solve, like in the XKCD comic Mystic linked. How many of us have been nagged to get Kik and either don't have a smartphone yet, or don't have one that can run Kik because it's a worse battery-drain than Skype? It was heating up my phone, so I had to uninstall it.

LINE is another one I wish had its effort put into improving an existing IM service, instead of making their own, making a Windows 8 port, then being stupid enough to not port it to other OSes. I know more people own smartphones and tablets than laptops nowadays, (If only because they're consumers of content and not content creators.) but c'mon.

It's not that I'm too old to move to another IM, because I've had many of them in the past. I just get so sick of my online presence feeling stretched. I'm spread so thinly over Facebook and Tumblr as it is because not everyone I know have a Twitter account, or have done anything with theirs to speak of.