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Stanislav Vishnevskiy joins Jason as they continue working together on their upcoming mobile game. But much like the protagonists of our favorite game stories, all journeys have their humble beginnings… Set your avatar and a custom status, and write your own profile to show up in chat your way.

In January 2018, The Daily Beast reported that it found several Discord servers that were specifically engaged in distributing revenge porn and facilitating real-world harassment of the victims of these images and videos. In 2021, Discord had at least 350 million registered users across its web and mobile platforms. With the service’s third anniversary, Discord stated that it had 130 million unique registered users. By the end of 2017, the service had drawn nearly 90 million users, with roughly 1.5 million new users each week. Discord began testing digital stickers on its platform in October 2020 for users in Canada.

Use by extremist users and groups

For supported games, you can see what modes or characters your friends are playing and directly join up. Discord is great for playing games and chilling with friends, or even building a worldwide community. Talk, play, and hang out with friends around the world over voice, video, or text. On January 27, 2021, Discord banned the r/WallStreetBets server during the GameStop short squeeze, citing «hateful and discriminatory content», which users found contentious. Approximately 30 minutes before the shooting, several users were invited by Gendron to view the server and read the messages. Citron stated that servers found to be engaged in illegal activities or violations of the terms of service would be shut down, but would not disclose any examples.

Such actions are against Discord’s terms of service and Discord shut down servers and banned users identified from these servers. Discord has had problems with hostile behavior and abuse within chats, with some communities of chat servers being «raided» (a large number of users joining a server) by other communities. In August 2018, Discord launched a games storefront beta, allowing users to purchase a curated set of games through the service. Communication tools such as voice and video calls, persistent chat rooms, and integrations with other gamer-focused services along with the general ability to send direct messages and create personal groups are present. Discord was conceived by Jason Citron, who founded OpenFeint, a social gaming platform for mobile games, and Stanislav Vishnevskiy, who founded Guildwork, another social gaming platform. Communication can be private or in virtual communities called «servers».note 2 A server is a collection of persistent chat rooms and voice channels accessed by invitation links.

Discord

In September 2019, Discord announced that it was ending its free game service in October 2019 as they found too few people were playing the games offered. While these features somewhat mimic the livestreaming capabilities of platforms like Twitch, the company does not plan to compete with these services, as these features were made for small groups. Roles can, among other things, determine which channels users have access to, change users’ colors, and designate a server’s moderation team. Users can create servers for free, manage their public visibility, and create voice channels, text channels, and categories to sort the channels into.

YOU CAN’T SCROLL ANYMORE.BETTER GO CHAT.

Channels may be used either for voice chat and streaming or for instant messaging and file sharing, or both. Most servers have a limit of 250,000 members, but this limit can be raised if the server owner contacts Discord. Although they are referred to as servers on the front end, they are called «guilds» in the developer documentation, to distinguish themselves from physical computer servers. The cause of this record was the Discord client playing the announcement video on loop in the app itself. They added new features such as dark mode for OLED screens, voice messages, and new icons. In September 2021, Google sent cease and desist notices to the developers of two of the most popular music bots used on Discord—Groovy and Rythm—which were used on an estimated 36 million servers in total.

For example, if a server maintains 2 boosts, it unlocks perks such as a higher maximum audio quality in voice channels and the ability to use an animated server icon. For its WebRTC transport of voice and video, it uses dedicated server infrastructure from Datapacket. According to BetterDiscord’s developers, users of the modification are not at risk of being sanctioned by Discord so long as they do not use additional modifications that violate Discord’s terms of service. One plugin, for example, allows its users to apply custom themes for free; another plugin allows increasing the volume of a voice-call participant beyond the default. When installed by server owners, they may aid in moderation, host mini games, and perform myriad of other automated tasks.

• In June 2020, Discord announced it was shifting focus away from video gaming specifically to a more all-purpose communication and chat client for all functions, revealing its new slogan «Your place to talk», along with a revised website.
• Although they are referred to as servers on the front end, they are called «guilds» in the developer documentation, to distinguish themselves from physical computer servers.
• The company benefited from relationships with Twitch streamers and subreddit communities for Diablo and World of Warcraft.
• Jason Citron establishes a new studio, Phoenix Guild, to help bring people together around games.
• In September 2019, Discord announced that it was ending its free game service in October 2019 as they found too few people were playing the games offered.
• For supported games, you can see what modes or characters your friends are playing and directly join up.

Discord is a persistent group chat software, based on an eventually consistent database architecture. These plugins augment existing functionality or add features that are not offered by Discord. Following the launch of the Epic Games Store, which challenged Valve’s Steam storefront by only taking a 12% cut of game revenue, Discord announced in December 2018 that it would reduce its own revenue cut to 10%. A user can share their entire screen, or a specific application, and others in that channel can choose to watch the stream. In June 2021, Discord added a feature that allows the user to add an about me section to their profile, as well as a custom colored banner at the top of their profile.

Developer tools and bots

Users criticized the possible impersonation risk that may arise if their previous username was claimed by another user. This system was ultimately changed to a handle-based system in May 2023, removing the discriminator from usernames. Forum Channels, which allow for longer and separate conversations were introduced to the platform in September 2022. In August 2021, Discord launched Threads, which are temporary text channels that can be set to automatically disappear.

wherever YOU GAME, HANG OUT HERE

In December 2017, Discord added a software development kit (SDK) that allows developers to integrate their games with the service, called «rich presence». In December 2016, the company introduced its GameBridge API, which allows game developers to directly integrate with Discord within games. This can be used, for example, to give select users access to alpha- and beta-builds of a game in progress as an early access alternative.

• This led to the development of a chat service with a focus on user friendliness with minimal impact on performance.
• The server had been used by former members of the r/The_Donald subreddit, which Reddit had deleted several months prior.
• Lifehacker has praised Discord’s interface, ease of use, and platform compatibility.
• Roles can, among other things, determine which channels users have access to, change users’ colors, and designate a server’s moderation team.
• In 2023, the server for Midjourney reached over 15 million members, making it the largest server on Discord.
• Roskomnadzor demanded that the platform remove 947 posts containing illegal content and imposed a fine in the amount of 3.5 million rubles (US$37,493).

User profiles

This led to the development of a chat service with a focus on user friendliness with minimal impact on performance. According to Citron, during the development process, he noticed how difficult it was for his team to work out tactics in games like Final Fantasy XIV and League of Legends using available voice over IP (VoIP) software. It is primarily used by gamers, although the share of users interested in other topics is growing. Discord doubles-down on its mission to be the best place to hang out before, during, and after playing games. Jason & Stan loved playing games but couldn’t find a reliable way to talk while playing online. Watch videos, play built-in games, listen to music, or just scroll together and spam memes.

We’re continuing to make Discord the best, most reliable platform to talk and play for players on PC, mobile, and console. Sakhnini brings deep gaming industry experience from leadership roles at Activision Blizzard and King. Discord teams up with PlayStation for account linking support, allowing people on Discord to show off what they’re playing on their PlayStation 5 console. Discord’s Rich Presence API releases, letting players display what they’re doing in-game, directly on Discord.

In 2017, Discord stated that it has plans to implement changes that would «rid the platform of the issue». This includes flooding chats with controversial topics related to race, religion, politics, and pornography. Lifehacker has praised Discord’s interface, ease of use, and platform compatibility. In May 2016, one year after the software’s release, Tom Marks, writing for PC Gamer, described Discord as the best VoIP service available.

During the Gen Z protests that spread throughout 2025, many demonstrations were organized on the platform. Citron wrote this move was in anticipation of making Discord a publicly traded company. However, more than 1.3 billion views were removed 2 days later after YouTube fixed the views count, and no records were broken by the Discord Loot Boxes video. On April Fool’s 2024, Discord accidentally broke the record of the most viewed YouTube video in 24 hours. After a fivefold increase in employees between 2020 and 2024, the company laid off 17%, or 170 employees, in January 2024. The documents, distributed on a Minecraft Discord server as photos, detailed the state of the Russo-Ukrainian war, surveillance of allied and adversarial nations, and indicated cracks in alliances with nations aligned with the United States.

Use by extremist users and groups

As of 2024,update Discord chicken road game download has about 150 million monthly active users and 19 million weekly active servers. Discord is an instant messaging and VoIP social platform that allows communication through voice calls, video calls, text messaging, and media. We’re building Discord to be the perfect place to talk while playing games on any platform, no matter what device you play on. Discord introduces voice chat support for PS5 consoles and reveals Activities, a way to play games directly in Discord.

Discord, after long-awaited excitement and hype, releases video chat and screen share features to all users in DMs and Group DMs. Use Discord to easily talk while playing your favorite PC games, show what you’re playing as your status, and stream your games to your friends. Discord responded by closing servers that supported the alt-right and far-right, and banning users who had participated. Another way Discord makes money is through a 10% commission as the distribution fee from all games sold through game developers’ verified servers. In June 2019, Discord introduced Server Boosts, a way to benefit specific servers by purchasing a «boost» for it, with enough boosts granting various benefits for the users in that particular server.

A verified server is moderated by its developers’ or publishers’ own moderation team. In 2023, the server for Midjourney reached over 15 million members, making it the largest server on Discord. The previously largest known Discord server was Snowsgiving 2021, an official Discord-controlled server made for the 2021 winter holiday season. The Moroccan protests at the end of the same month also originated on Discord, using the platform for organising and public statements. In early September 2025, Discord was used heavily in the 2025 Nepal protests and to help elect a new prime minister even if Discord was formerly banned in Nepal along with social media except for TikTok.

In September 2024, according to Russian media Kommersant, Russian regulator Roskomnadzor was planning to block the platform. One day later, Discord allowed another server to be created and began assisting with moderation on it. They additionally discovered 165 cases of prosecution for the sharing of child sexual exploitation material on the platform. In June 2023, NBC News reported that they had identified 35 cases of adults being charged with «kidnapping, grooming, or sexual assault» that allegedly involved the platform. In July 2018, Discord updated its terms of service to ban drawn pornography with underage subjects. CNN has reported that Discord has had problems with sexual exploitation of children and young teenagers on its platform.