Discord facts for kids
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Screenshot
Screenshot depicting Discord's home screen in 2023
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| Developer(s) | Discord Inc. |
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| Initial release | May 13, 2015 |
| Written in | |
| Operating system | Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, iPadOS, Linux, web browsers |
| Available in | 30 languages |
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List of languages
English (UK/US), Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified/Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese
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| Type | VoIP communications, instant messaging, videoconferences, content delivery, and social media |
| License | Proprietary |
Discord is a popular app for talking with friends and communities online. It lets you send instant messages, make voice calls, and even video calls. You can chat one-on-one or join bigger groups called "servers."
Servers are like online clubhouses with different chat rooms and voice channels. You can get into a server using a special invite link. Discord works on many devices, including Windows computers, macOS computers, Android phones, iOS and iPadOS devices, Linux computers, and even in web browsers. As of 2024, Discord has about 150 million people using it every month. It started out popular with gamers, but now many different kinds of communities use it.
History of Discord
The idea for Discord came from Jason Citron and Stanislav Vishnevskiy. Jason had created a gaming platform for mobile phones called OpenFeint. Stanislav had also made a gaming platform called Guildwork.
How Discord Started
Jason Citron sold his company, OpenFeint, in 2011. With that money, he started a game development studio called Hammer & Chisel in 2012. Their first game, Fates Forever, came out in 2014. It was meant to be a big online battle game for phones. But it didn't become very popular.
While making games, Jason noticed a problem. It was hard for his team to talk to each other during games like Final Fantasy XIV and League of Legends. The voice chat tools available weren't very good. This made him want to create a new chat service. He wanted it to be easy to use and not slow down games. The name Discord was chosen because it sounded cool and was easy to remember. It also fit the idea of solving "discord" (disagreement) in the gaming world.
To build Discord, Hammer & Chisel got more money from investors. Discord was officially launched in May 2015.
Discord's Early Growth
Discord didn't specifically try to attract gamers at first. But some gaming groups on Reddit quickly started using Discord instead of older chat systems. It became very popular with players in esports and at gaming events. The company grew by working with popular streamers on Twitch and communities for games like Diablo and World of Warcraft.
In 2018, Microsoft announced that Discord would work with Xbox Live. This allowed users to connect their Discord and Xbox accounts. They could then chat with their Xbox friends through Discord.
Expanding Beyond Gaming
In June 2020, Discord announced a big change. They decided to become a communication app for everyone, not just gamers. Their new slogan became "Your place to talk." They updated their website and planned to make the app easier for new users. They also wanted to make their servers more reliable.
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In May 2021, Discord changed its logo, which is shaped like a game controller and called "Clyde." They also updated their colors to be brighter and more "bold and playful." The slogan changed again to "imagine a place." Some users didn't like these changes at first.
Discord continued to grow, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people started using it to connect with others online. In 2021, Discord bought a company called Sentropy, which helps with online moderation.
Recent Updates and Challenges
In 2022, Discord faced a fine in Europe for not following some privacy rules. For example, the app would sometimes keep running in the background even after being closed. It also allowed users to create very short passwords.
In early 2023, Discord was used to share some important government documents. These documents were posted on a Minecraft Discord server. This led to a big news story about leaked information.
Discord has also made some changes to its team. In August 2023 and January 2024, the company made some staff reductions as part of restructuring. In December 2023, Discord updated its mobile app. It added new features like a dark mode for certain screens, voice messages, and new icons.
Features of Discord
Discord is designed to help people manage and be part of online communities. It has tools for voice and video calls, chat rooms that save messages, and ways to connect with other gaming services. You can also send private messages and create small group chats.
Discord Servers
Discord communities are organized into groups called "servers." Users can create servers for free. They can choose if the server is public or private. Inside a server, you can make different types of channels: voice channels, text channels, and categories to keep them organized. Most servers can have up to 250,000 members.
Server owners can also create "roles" and give them to members. Roles can control which channels people can access. They can also change a user's name color or mark them as part of the moderation team. The largest Discord server known is for Midjourney, which has over 15 million members.
Since 2017, game developers and publishers can get their servers "verified." Verified servers have special badges, like verified accounts on social media. This shows they are official communities. Later, esports teams and music artists could also get verified.
Types of Channels
Discord has different types of channels for different ways to communicate:
- Text Channels: For sending instant messages and sharing files.
- Voice Channels: For voice chat and sharing your screen or game.
- Stage Channels: Launched in 2021, these are like live audio shows. A moderator controls who can speak.
- Threads: Added in 2021, these are temporary text channels that can disappear automatically. They help keep conversations organized.
- Forum Channels: Introduced in 2022, these are like old-school internet forums. They let you have longer, separate discussions on different topics.
- Media Channels: Launched in 2023, these channels are only for sharing videos and images.
User Profiles
When you join Discord, you create a username and use an email address. Until mid-2023, each user also had a special four-digit number called a "discriminator" (like #1234) after their username. This allowed many people to have the same username. If you had Discord Nitro (a paid subscription), you could choose your own discriminator.
In May 2023, Discord changed this system. Now, users have unique usernames, similar to other social media sites. This meant everyone had to choose a new username. People who joined Discord earlier or had Nitro got to choose their new names first.
In June 2021, Discord added an "about me" section to profiles. Users can also add a custom colored banner at the top of their profile. Nitro subscribers can use animated images as their banners.
Video Calls and Streaming
Discord added video calling and screen sharing in October 2017. You can make private video calls with up to 50 people.
In August 2019, they added live streaming to servers. You can share your whole screen or just one application. Others in the channel can watch your stream. These features are great for small groups to watch things together.
Developer Tools and Bots
Discord offers tools for developers to connect their games and apps with Discord.
- Rich Presence: This lets games show what a player is doing in their Discord profile. For example, it can show what game they are playing or their progress.
- Bots: These are automated tools made by the community. Server owners can add bots to help with moderation, host mini-games, or do many other tasks. There are hundreds of thousands of bots active on Discord. Discord also has an official "app directory" to help server owners find and add bots easily. Bots are a very important part of Discord.
Unofficial Extensions
Even though Discord doesn't officially allow it, many unofficial extensions have been created. One popular one is BetterDiscord. This is an open-source tool that lets users install plugins. These plugins can add new features or change how Discord looks. For example, some plugins let you change the app's look or increase voice volume. While BetterDiscord is popular, it can sometimes have bugs. Its creators say that using it won't get you in trouble with Discord, as long as you don't use other modifications that break Discord's rules.
How Discord Works
Discord is a chat software that keeps your conversations saved. It was built using different technologies over time to handle billions of messages.
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The Discord app you use on your computer, phone, or in a web browser is built using modern web technologies. This allows it to work on many different devices.
Discord uses many data centres around the world. These are powered by Google Cloud Platform. This helps keep the connection fast and smooth for users everywhere. In 2020, Discord added a feature to its mobile app called Krisp. This technology helps remove background noise from voice chats.
The "backend" of Discord, which is the part that handles all the data and connections, is mostly written in programming languages like Elixir and Python.
How Discord Makes Money
Discord is free to use, but the company has found ways to earn money to support the service.
Discord Nitro
In 2017, Discord launched its first paid subscription called "Discord Nitro Classic." For a monthly fee, users get special perks:
- An animated profile picture.
- The ability to use custom and animated emojis in any server.
- Larger file upload sizes (from 8 MB to 50 MB).
- Higher quality screen sharing.
- A unique profile badge.
In 2018, a new, more expensive "Discord Nitro" tier was introduced. This version originally included access to free games through the Discord game store. However, Discord stopped offering free games with Nitro in October 2019.
In October 2022, "Discord Nitro Classic" was replaced by a cheaper "Discord Nitro Basic" tier. This new tier offers a smaller set of features from the main Nitro plan.
Server Boosts
In June 2019, Discord added "Server Boosts." This allows users to pay to "boost" a specific server. If a server gets enough boosts, it unlocks special benefits for everyone in that server. These benefits can include better audio quality in voice channels or the ability to use an animated server icon. Each boost costs money per month. Users with Discord Nitro get a discount on boosts and also get two free boosts.
Other Ways Discord Earns Money
Discord also sells digital stickers that users can buy for their profiles. In May 2023, many stickers became free for all users.
In October 2023, Discord added "Avatar Decorations" and "Profile Themes." Users can buy animated decorations for their profile pictures and themes for their profiles from Discord's Shop.
Discord also earns a small fee (10%) from games sold directly by developers through their verified servers.
See also
In Spanish: Discord para niños
- Comparison of VoIP software
- Comparison of cross-platform instant messaging clients
- List of freeware
