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Beginner’s guide to Discord

Beginner’s guide to Discord
Troy Zaher

Troy Zaher

  • Updated:

If you’re an online gamer, then you’ve probably at least heard of Discord. Discord is often compared to Skype since they both let people talk to their friends online over voice or video chat. The big difference between the two are Discord’s servers. These servers are completely customizable and are completely different from how Skype calls work. Discord also features overlays for most PC games since their audience is primarily gamers. Despite its many benefits, Discord can be a bit confusing to understand at first. Here is all you need to know about getting your Discord set up, so you can play games with your friends:

Discord

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Discord’s location and starting an account

Something unique about discord is the ability to use it through a browser. While of course the windows and mobile apps are better for direct connectivity, the browser version works practically the same. Using any of these methods, one can easily access the Discord site to create their account and get started using Discord.

Creating or joining a server

The first thing you’ll notice about Discord is that it’s primarily server-based. While you are able to have private and group chats that work similar to Skype, Discord tends to focus more on its servers. Servers can be created by anyone and joined by anyone as long as they have the server invite. Members of a Discord server can easily invite others by pressing the “invite people” button above the server rooms.

What is in a server

Within a Discord server, you will typically find a few textrooms and a few voice chat rooms. These rooms are exactly what they sound like. Textrooms work like regular online chatrooms. Except they are only accessible by the members of the server. Textrooms will usually have a specific topic that they revolve around. Some can even be locked, allowing only specific people to enter. Server hosts can also assign members to become moderators, giving them special privileges and the ability to ban other members. Voice chats work the same way as textrooms, except they are over voice communication instead of text.

Why gamers use Discord

Many gamers swear by Discord as their primary form of communication with their gamer friends. This is because Discord has special overlays for many game clients, allowing you to manage your Discord settings without needing to ALT-Tab out of your games. Along with this, Discord has connectivity with Twitch, YouTube, and Spotify, allowing for you to sync your music with your chat volume.

Discord allows for socialization over the Internet like no other program. Whether the purpose is for gaming or not, Discord is an incredibly useful tool for hanging out with your friends.

Troy Zaher

Troy Zaher

Troy Zaher is a professional writer and journalist for Softonic, specializing in gaming and social media news. He is a 2018 graduate of Fitchburg State University with a bachelors of English.

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