Discord (software)

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Discord

Discord Color Text Logo.svg
Basic data

developer Discord Inc.
Publishing year 2015
Current  version 04/06/2020
(6 April 2020)
operating system macOS , Windows , Android , iOS , Linux , browser
programming language Electron , JavaScript , Elixir , Rust
category IP telephony , instant messaging , peer-to-peer , video conferencing
License proprietary
German speaking Yes
discord.com

Discord (also Discordapp ) is an online service for instant messaging , chat , voice conferencing and video conferencing , which was created primarily for computer gamers, but is now also increasingly used for other areas. Discord can be used as a web application or with proprietary client software on all common operating systems. Discord claims to have more than 250 million registered users.

development

To begin development of the Discord software released in May 2015, developers Hammer & Chisel stopped supporting their mobile MOBA game Fates Forever . After the initialization of their project by “YouWeb's 9+ Incubator”, Benchmark Capital and Tencent took over the financing of the application. The declared goal of the developers was to develop an application that a communication with a low latency permits and the defining features of other VoIP - software such as Skype and TeamSpeak combined and improved.

Its visibility increased the application by known users of e-sports - and gaming industry.

The company of the same name was founded by OpenFeint founder Jason Citron. He intends to keep the company and the application of corporations financially independent.

The company increased its capital in January 2016 and by a further 20 million US dollars .

application

The Discord application was developed for simultaneous use while playing computer games .

Discord contains almost all functions that Skype or TeamSpeak also provide. For example, it is possible to create free public "servers" with voice and text channels. The term “server” refers to a set of communication channels that are used by a community.

Private communication via groups, chats or phone calls is also made possible, and since October 5, 2017 also via video calls.

All data run through the servers of Discord Inc. to prevent the IP address from being disclosed to other users, as this harbors the risk of an attack, for example a DDoS attack .

Since all data is in one central location, it can also be accessed from any device. Discord can be used on Windows , macOS , Linux , Android , iOS and in the web browser.

Recently there has also been the option of making voice and video calls, with voice calls also being able to transmit the entire screen or individual windows. Screen sharing is not available in the web version.

Calls (between individual users and in groups) were added in an update on July 28, 2016.

With the update of November 3, 2016, the option was added to respond to messages from other users with emojis with so-called "Emoji Reactions" .

On December 8th, 2016, “GameBridge” was released, an SDK with which Discord can be integrated into your application. B. To enable players of online games a better user experience of both the game and Discord.

In order to be able to offer the software permanently free of charge, according to the company, the payment model "Nitro" was introduced in January 2017. Some advanced features are available to users who are “Nitro” members.

Discord Store

Since August 2018, the Discord Store has also been offered to 50,000 users in Canada , where games can be purchased as downloads. In October 2018 the store was released worldwide in the beta phase. The store started with 80 games, some of which were exclusive. The Nitro subscription has also been expanded to a flat-rate game for selected titles. The price is $ 10 a month. In a survey of game developers, 6% of respondents said they use the store. $ 150 million was invested in the store. Investors include the Chinese company Tencent , Firstmark, IVP, Index Ventures, Technology Opportunity Partners and Greenoaks Capital. Although the store is less well known compared to the other platforms, the user base of around 200 million Discord users can be addressed. The store aims to appeal to developers by allowing them to retain 90% of the sales of their products that are sold. In comparison, Discord is at the top, Epic Games Store offers developers 88% and Steam only 70%.

On September 12, 2019, Discord announced the discontinuation of the game flat rate as part of the Nitro subscription due to insufficient demand. On October 15, 2019, all games were removed and were no longer available to users. Games bought through the Discord Store remained usable.

distribution

  • Hammer & Chisel announced that Discord had been used by 3 million users in January 2016 and had reached 11 million users in July 2016 with a monthly growth of 1 million users.
  • In December 2016, the developers announced that Discord now has over 25 million registered users who send over 100 million messages every day.
  • In May 2016, a year after its release, Discord was described by Tom Marks (writer on PC Gamer ) as the best VoIP service out there.
  • In May 2017, Discord turned two and reported 45 million registered users sending 200 million messages a day. The monthly data traffic that is generated by voice chat alone now amounts to 16 petabytes .
  • In December 2017, the platform reported 87 million registered users, of which 14 million are active daily. It is also available in 130 countries and sends 9.5 billion messages a month.
  • In May 2018, the number of registered users rose to 130 million.
  • In March 2019, Discord announced it had 200 million registered users.
  • In January 2020 Discord speaks of more than 250 million registered users, 56 million monthly active users and 963 million daily text messages

criticism

Extremism researcher Julia Ebner , who works at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue , criticized the fact that right-wing extremists such as Reconquista Germanica networked via Discord. Due to the possible hierarchies such as the distribution of different roles, the platform for organization is popular with some neo-Nazis . Right -wing extremist demonstrations in Charlottesville were organized through Discord. Discord responded to the criticism by blocking the affected accounts and deleting the "servers".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ electronjs.org . (accessed April 11, 2018).
  2. ↑ blog.discordapp.com . (accessed April 11, 2018).
  3. ↑ October 5th, 2017 - Change Log. In: Discord Blog. October 6, 2017, accessed January 10, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Discord job and company information. Retrieved June 8, 2018 .
  5. ^ A b Nelly: Maintaining Trust and Safety at Discord With Over 200 Million People. February 13, 2019, accessed May 31, 2019 .
  6. ↑ a b Discord - Sell your game on Discord. Retrieved January 6, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Tasos Lazarides: Ex-'Fates Forever' Developers Making 'Discord', a Voice Comm App For Multiplayer Mobile Games. In: TouchArcade. September 14, 2015, accessed October 1, 2018 .
  8. ↑ a b Tom Marks: One year after its launch, Discord is the best VoIP service available. In: PC Gamer. May 14, 2016, accessed January 10, 2018 .
  9. ↑ a b c Dean Takahashi: Hammer & Chisel pivots to voice comm app for multiplayer mobile games. In: VentureBeat. September 10, 2015, accessed January 10, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Dean Takahashi: Fates Forever mobile game maker Hammer & Chisel raises funding from Benchmark and Tencent. In: VentureBeat. February 10, 2015, accessed January 10, 2018 .
  11. ↑ James Brightman: Jason Citron lands $ 20m for Discord. In: GamesIndustry.biz. January 26, 2016, accessed January 10, 2018 .
  12. ↑ a b Alex Walker: The Latest App For Third-Party Voice Chat Just Raised Almost US $ 20 million. In: Kotaku Australia. January 27, 2016, accessed January 10, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Screen sharing and video calls. Retrieved June 25, 2018 .
  14. ↑ 2016.7.28 - Change Log. July 28, 2016, accessed January 10, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Discord on Twitter. In: Twitter. Discord, November 3, 2016, accessed October 1, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Discord - GameBridge. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 10, 2016 ; accessed on May 14, 2019 .
  17. ↑ a b Dean Takahashi: Discord hits 25 million users and releases GameBridge SDK for voice chat. In: VentureBeat. December 8, 2016, accessed October 1, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Discord - Nitro. Retrieved January 10, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Fabian Vecellio del Monego: Discord: Beta of the integrated game shop started worldwide. Retrieved February 10, 2019 .
  20. ↑ heise online: Discord offers subscription services for games. Retrieved February 10, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Discord: New Game Store now open to everyone. October 17, 2018, accessed February 10, 2019 .
  22. ↑ It's getting uncomfortable for Valve: Games manufacturer highly dissatisfied with Steam - derStandard.at. Retrieved February 10, 2019 (Austrian German).
  23. ↑ Gaming: Discord invests 150 million US dollars in game store - Golem.de. Retrieved on February 10, 2019 (German).
  24. ↑ Discord Game Store: $ 150 million jump start game for game shop. December 26, 2018, accessed February 10, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Price battle of online stores - Discord wants less than Epic from 2019. December 15, 2018, accessed February 10, 2019 .
  26. ^ Nelly: What's Coming for Nitro. September 12, 2019, accessed on September 14, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Bryant Francis: Game chat app Discord crosses 11 million registered users. In: Gamasutra. July 8, 2016, accessed January 10, 2018 .
  28. ↑ Discord Turns Two! In: YouTube. May 16, 2017, accessed January 10, 2018 .
  29. ↑ Discord Did Things in 2017. In: Discord Blog. December 7, 2017, accessed January 10, 2018 .
  30. ↑ Discord celebrates its birthday with 130 million users. In: cnet.com. May 15, 2018, accessed May 31, 2018 .
  31. ↑ Discord - Jobs at Discord and information about the company. Retrieved January 6, 2020 .
  32. ↑ Max Muth: Highscore for murder. October 15, 2019, accessed December 15, 2019 .
  33. ↑ Kevin Roose: This Was the Alt-Right's Favorite Chat App. Then came Charlottesville. In: The New York Times . August 15, 2017, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed December 15, 2019]).