What Is Discord and How Do You Use It? (2024)

Video games and the internet go together like Doritos and Mountain Dew. With online play, you needn't seek an arcade's bustling crowds or wrangle friends together for couch gaming. You can enjoy cooperating with, or competing against, people from across the globe.

Online multiplayer play isn’t always a pleasant experience, especially when it comes to communication. Listening to random, faraway strangers screech obscenities at you can be enough to make you want to burn your gaming headset. However, conducting epic MMO raids or coordinating shooter tactics with teammates wasn’t possible in the era before online chat. And today, Discord is the service that people turn to for effective online gaming chat.

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What Is Discord?

With more than 500 million registered users, Discord is one of the most popular ways that gamers communicate online. Discord lets friends chat via voice, video, or text, and join servers where large communities gather.

Gaming is Discord’s focus. At one point, the service gave away free PC games to paid subscribers before realizing it couldn’t beat Steam. However, non-gamers can take advantage of Discord's useful features, too. More on its other uses in a bit.

What Is Discord and How Do You Use It? (4)

(Credit: Discord)

How to Join Discord

There are many ways to communicate while gaming online, but many of them are tied to specific hardware. Discord succeeds because it's platform agnostic. You can integrate it with your PlayStation or Xbox account, for example. Not being tethered to a game console also strengthens Discord's argument for non-gaming uses such as talking to family or classmates.

Joining Discord is as easy as using the service on your desktop browser or downloading the free app available for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. From there, you join a server by searching for one, accepting an invite, or creating your own. A server is made up of channels that members use for communication. In fact, Discord's video chat feature makes it a fine alternative to Zoom Meetings.

Servers (and channels within those servers) appear on the left rail; the list of server members appears on the right. At the top (or on the bottom on mobile) you can add and message friends, search servers, and see if you've been mentioned in a conversation. A single, free user can join up to 100 servers, while a paid subscriber can join 200.

In addition, Discord lets you customize server notifications, and give yourself a different nickname for each joined server. However, now you can only have one overall username. You can also invite friends you added from one server into another, even though friends don't need to share a server to communicate.

A single server can have up to 500,000 members (250,000 on a new server). That said, the owner must contact Discord support for more server space to avoid connection errors if more than 25,000 people are simultaneously online. A server maxes out at 50 categories and 500 channels.

What Is Discord and How Do You Use It? (5)

(Credit: Discord)

How to Use Discord

You use Discord alongside whatever other activity you're doing. Say you have a group of friends that you play fighting games with on weekends. You can all seamlessly connect to the same Discord server by launching and accessing it from any device. By doing so, the crew can talk smack about each others' skills in Mortal Kombat 1 or Street Fighter 6, regardless of console or PC platform. In addition, Discord is a particularly stellar alternative to Nintendo Switch Online's subpar voice chat app.

Discord offers both private and public servers. Private servers are for hanging out with friends, not strangers itching to scream at you. They also work for any kind of communication that requires secrecy. For example, I watched a game presentation and asked the developers questions through a private, password-protected Discord server.

Public servers also have their place. Like a mixture of Reddit and Slack, public Discord servers are for fans of a common subject to chat with each other and foster a community. You can create custom emotes for your server's in-jokes, too. Moderators can ban problematic users. In fact, game developers are known for interacting with users on verified Discord servers dedicated to their titles.

Although it has video features, Discord doesn’t compete with Twitch and other video game live-streaming platforms. Instead, Discord is more of a complementary service to Twitch. While watching your favorite streamer, you can interact with other fans on the Discord channel. Streamers can even reward their fans who sync Discord with their Patreon, Twitch, or YouTube accounts with continued access to their servers as long as those fans stay subscribed.

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What Is Discord and How Do You Use It? (9)

(Credit: Discord)

Discord Isn't Just for Gamers

Discord is also leaning harder on non-gaming uses. The website advertises communities for book clubs, dance classes, and digital conventions. Discord has told us that, according to internal polls, teenagers use Discord for everything from studying for classes to watching Netflix together. You can connect Spotify music streaming to your Discord account, so friends can see what you're listening to. Discord's Teen Safety Assist features are designed to protect younger users who enjoy the app as an overall social space.

Does Discord Cost Money?

Discord is free to download. However, Discord users can enjoy premium extras with Discord Nitro, which is available in two tiers.

Discord Nitro Basic is the cheaper premium tier that costs $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year. This subscription grants you a Nitro badge for your profile, custom emotes and stickers you can use beyond your home server, and custom video backgrounds. Nitro users get discounts at the in-app shop when buying more profile effects.

What Is Discord and How Do You Use It? (10)

(Credit: Discord)

For $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, the standard Discord Nitro tier offers everything in Discord Nitro Basic, plus a few more perks. You can upload files up to 500MB, which is 10 times Nitro Basic's 50MB limit (and way greater than the 25MB limit for free users). Using it, you can stream at 4K/60fps, write longer messages, and spruce up your custom server profiles with animated avatars, banners, and extra colors.

You also get two Server Boosts. When a server gets boosted enough times, it levels up and unlocks more features for all members of that server. These bonuses include more emoji slots, a vanity URL, custom invite artwork, animated icons, a server banner, and features otherwise reserved for paid members, such as improved video quality and higher upload limits. So, even if you don’t pay, you may still get premium benefits if your server’s sense of community is strong enough to make other members pay it forward. It’s even more incentive for Discord users to make servers kind and welcoming, not hostile and toxic like other online gaming community spaces.

What Is Discord and How Do You Use It? (11)

What Is Discord and How Do You Use It? (12) Why You Should Game on a PC

Continue to Communicate

In short, Discord is a cool, useful way to communicate with friends, and perhaps make new ones. For more, read our full Discord review and see how it stacks up against Guilded, a similar chat service. In addition, check out the best video conferencing software and the best business VoIP providers.

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About Jordan Minor

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In 2013, I started my Ziff Davis career as an intern on PCMag's Software team. Now, I’m an Analyst on the Apps and Gaming team, and I really just want to use my fancy Northwestern University journalism degree to write about video games. I host The Pop-Off, PCMag's video game show. I was previously the Senior Editor for Geek.com. I’ve also written for The A.V. Club, Kotaku, and Paste Magazine. I’m the author of a video game history book, Video Game of the Year, and the reason why everything you know about Street Sharks is a lie.

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What Is Discord and How Do You Use It? (2024)

FAQs

What is Discord and how do you use it? ›

Discord lets friends chat via voice, video, or text, and join servers where large communities gather. Gaming is Discord's focus. At one point, the service gave away free PC games to paid subscribers before realizing it couldn't beat Steam. However, non-gamers can take advantage of Discord's useful features, too.

How do you use Discord in simple sentences? ›

Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Going to school amplified the discord of my unconventional family upbringing. Something that should spread joy has become a harbinger of discord and protest. There also signs of discord and discontent in his campaign.

What is the description of Discord? ›

Discord is a voice, video and text communication service used by over a hundred million people to hang out and talk with their friends and communities.

Who uses Discord the most? ›

As of February 2024, users between the ages of 25 to 34 years accounted for the biggest share of Discord.com users worldwide, making up over 53.4 percent of the platform's audience. Younger users between 16 and 24 years made up 20.6 percent of the Discord user base.

Am I anonymous on Discord? ›

There is a high degree of anonymity on Discord and it is possible that users could receive unwanted contact. However, there are privacy settings that can be adjusted so that only confirmed friends can send you direct messages.

What are some common Discord rules? ›

Below are the most basic Discord rules.
  • Be respectful. This means no mean, rude, or harassing comments. ...
  • No inappropriate language. ...
  • No spamming. ...
  • No pornographic/adult/other NSFW material. ...
  • No advertisements. ...
  • No offensive names and profile pictures. ...
  • Server Raiding. ...
  • Threats are forbidden.
Mar 30, 2023

What is Discord and example? ›

Discord is an instant messaging and VoIP social platform which allows communication through voice calls, video calls, text messaging, and media. Communication can be private or take place in virtual communities called "servers".

What are the three main functions of Discord? ›

Discord is a free communications app that lets you share voice, video, and text chat with friends, game communities, and developers.

Can I use Discord for free? ›

Simply put, Discord is a free communication app used by tens of millions of people to talk and hang out with their favorite creators, communities and friends. For creators, Discord allows you to talk directly with your fans via text chat, voice and video.

How to use Discord on phone? ›

Creating an Account
  1. If you'd like to create a Discord account and start using the app, you can download Discord via your mobile device: ...
  2. Once the app is fully installed, tap on the app icon to launch the app.
  3. If this is your first time using Discord, press Register to create your account.
Mar 26, 2024

Why would someone use Discord? ›

Discord offers voice, video, and text chat options, as well as specialised servers for larger communities. Although Discord is best known for its gaming servers, the platform's flexibility makes it a preferred tool for diverse online communities like fandom groups or even school friends.

Is Discord used for dating? ›

Some people say they like Discord over typical dating apps because you're not forced to like or reject people on the spot. There's also no pressure to talk all the time.

How do people talk on Discord? ›

Go to the Discord tab and select Direct Voice Chats. Select the player or group you want to voice chat with. Select Start Voice Chat. If the player or group has already started the voice chat, select Join.

What is Discord and is it safe to use? ›

It has various features such as voice and text channels, group chats, and the option to create private or public servers. While it provides a fun way for kids and teens to socialize with their friends, it also has features that may expose them to inappropriate content or interactions.

Who uses Discord and why? ›

It is primarily used by gamers, although the share of users interested in other topics is growing.

Why is Discord so popular? ›

Discord stood for the ever-changing taste and brought in unique, orderly, sharp features that many popular social connection apps like Facebook, Telegram, or WhatsApp did not offer. Discord lets users open up servers, more like a community for hanging out with others.

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