I have used both for years. I am tending more to Discord although the setup can be daunting. I especially like the video and audio features. I basically replaced Zoom and Slack with Discord. Having only one platform to manage makes my life much easier.
Thanks for the information. I was thinking about a Discord community but I'm still not sure. Neither sounds right for me yet. I'll have to do some more research.
While I was working in a Video Game Studio, as a Community Director, I've pushed to use Discord as both external & internal Communication Channel. The roles in Discord makes it very easy to automate the rights and accesses. Regarding the Video/Audio uses, I've had a lot of good experiences with Discord (I'm using it since launch) and the few times there was issues, it was related to issues on discord servers (yet they are very rare). The only issue I would highlight is the screen sharing that is mostly directed at video games and might be cluncky for some softwares. I've heard a lot of bad things about Zoom regarding their security, so I have tendency to avoid it. Yet, for external use, I would still put a warning for Community specialist : Discord users are gonna be your most "hardcore" ones, the ones that will be the most involve in your services. It creates a bias that you need to keep in mind while working with it. Also, a strong points regarding Discord Bots is the fact that there is a ton of people out there creating them. If you need a bot, there is a high chance one already exists and, in the worst case, you have access to a big community to ask for help.
Wow, thanks for the really thoughtful reply! Great to hear you have had good experiences overall related to A/V. Interesting that it was server issues. Were you able to resolve these issues? Also, great point about Discord Bots - there is a huge ecosystem of them out there. Question: when you pushed for Discord for internal use, what was the response from staff?
@@jonobacon Regarding Server Issues, I meant they were coming from Discord's side. For example, when they released Discord in Russia (in 2015 if I remember well), the services were barely available for a few days because of the load on the main servers. And there are, from time to time, some issues on that level, but nothing worrisome. Regarding the response from the staff, I will divide that into the different department and their answer. But first, I want to give a bit of context. The studio was growing (we were moving from a 10-person studio to around 20-30), and we were using the free version of Skype for internal communication in 2018. The service could have been better and our internal communication suffered from it. Next, we used Discord as an external communication tool with our players. We were so unhappy with Skype that the question of leaving the service was raised, and I called to use Discord with the following arguments : 1) The server hierarchy and roles system would suit our organisation 2) The bot system would give us the ability to plug data feed from our servers to raise alerts in case of issues 3) Our community Management team (3 people in total) was already juggling multiple channels, so adding another one (like Slack) would make our job more difficult 4) Our use of Discord would keep it free (if you ignore the cost of adaptation to a new tool, of course) From there, the CEO agreed, and we moved on to Discord. The response from the different teams -Admin Team: It made their job easier as they would have dedicated channels to communicate with specific teams, and the Discord organisation was clearer. There's no resistance to change here. -Devs Team: Most saw a new toolbox/Playing field and were enthusiastic about the change. -Artist Team + Design Team: The more "Internet literate" and youngest team (according to the average age of team members) in the studio, most were already using Discord. They embraced the change. There was a minor complaint about creating a "studio account" beside their personal accounts, but nothing as severe as resistance to change. -Sales Team: They were the most resistant to change, as they were using Skype as their B2B communication channel, so leaving it would increase their workload slightly. Also, it would increase their integration into the studio, and they were not keen on that. Yet, they bowed to the decision but barely used it. I hope I didn't over-explain and that answers your questions.
I have used both for years. I am tending more to Discord although the setup can be daunting. I especially like the video and audio features. I basically replaced Zoom and Slack with Discord. Having only one platform to manage makes my life much easier.
Thanks for sharing! What has your experience been with Discord Stages?
Thanks for the information. I was thinking about a Discord community but I'm still not sure. Neither sounds right for me yet. I'll have to do some more research.
Thanks for the kind words and best of luck with the decision!
While I was working in a Video Game Studio, as a Community Director, I've pushed to use Discord as both external & internal Communication Channel. The roles in Discord makes it very easy to automate the rights and accesses.
Regarding the Video/Audio uses, I've had a lot of good experiences with Discord (I'm using it since launch) and the few times there was issues, it was related to issues on discord servers (yet they are very rare). The only issue I would highlight is the screen sharing that is mostly directed at video games and might be cluncky for some softwares. I've heard a lot of bad things about Zoom regarding their security, so I have tendency to avoid it.
Yet, for external use, I would still put a warning for Community specialist : Discord users are gonna be your most "hardcore" ones, the ones that will be the most involve in your services. It creates a bias that you need to keep in mind while working with it.
Also, a strong points regarding Discord Bots is the fact that there is a ton of people out there creating them. If you need a bot, there is a high chance one already exists and, in the worst case, you have access to a big community to ask for help.
Wow, thanks for the really thoughtful reply!
Great to hear you have had good experiences overall related to A/V. Interesting that it was server issues. Were you able to resolve these issues?
Also, great point about Discord Bots - there is a huge ecosystem of them out there.
Question: when you pushed for Discord for internal use, what was the response from staff?
@@jonobacon Regarding Server Issues, I meant they were coming from Discord's side. For example, when they released Discord in Russia (in 2015 if I remember well), the services were barely available for a few days because of the load on the main servers. And there are, from time to time, some issues on that level, but nothing worrisome.
Regarding the response from the staff, I will divide that into the different department and their answer.
But first, I want to give a bit of context. The studio was growing (we were moving from a 10-person studio to around 20-30), and we were using the free version of Skype for internal communication in 2018. The service could have been better and our internal communication suffered from it.
Next, we used Discord as an external communication tool with our players. We were so unhappy with Skype that the question of leaving the service was raised, and I called to use Discord with the following arguments :
1) The server hierarchy and roles system would suit our organisation
2) The bot system would give us the ability to plug data feed from our servers to raise alerts in case of issues
3) Our community Management team (3 people in total) was already juggling multiple channels, so adding another one (like Slack) would make our job more difficult
4) Our use of Discord would keep it free (if you ignore the cost of adaptation to a new tool, of course)
From there, the CEO agreed, and we moved on to Discord.
The response from the different teams
-Admin Team: It made their job easier as they would have dedicated channels to communicate with specific teams, and the Discord organisation was clearer. There's no resistance to change here.
-Devs Team: Most saw a new toolbox/Playing field and were enthusiastic about the change.
-Artist Team + Design Team: The more "Internet literate" and youngest team (according to the average age of team members) in the studio, most were already using Discord. They embraced the change. There was a minor complaint about creating a "studio account" beside their personal accounts, but nothing as severe as resistance to change.
-Sales Team: They were the most resistant to change, as they were using Skype as their B2B communication channel, so leaving it would increase their workload slightly. Also, it would increase their integration into the studio, and they were not keen on that. Yet, they bowed to the decision but barely used it.
I hope I didn't over-explain and that answers your questions.
Wow, thanks for such a wonderful, comprehensive response! :-)
I find the spammy nature of Discord and the use of pseudonyms quite off-putting. Also, the excessive use of emojis and GIFs can be quite irritating.
Agreed!