Discord 101: A Complete Beginners’ Guide

An In-depth Look at the Introduction, Features and Guide of Discord, one of the best tool for communication in online streaming and gaming.

Whether you are a social media influencer or an avid gamer, there is no possibility that you are unfamiliar with Discord. It is, actually, a free communication app for chatting and streaming games, especially for highly competitive games like Minecraft, Destiny 2, LoL, Genshin Impact, and Call of Duty. But it is not only limited for gamers as it has potential for normal users as a text service to communicate in private and public chats and servers. Discord helps players coordinate in real-time using private servers and customized chats and voice channels.

Discord app is not high resource eating and works very fine with standard specifications on a device. The application works both on mobile devices and PC without any lags. What makes it a great platform is that it is the combination of VOIP and text chat systems. It is not a new application for most users anymore, and now it is one of the most effective VoIP services amongst other chatting platforms. Unlike other premium and costly VOIP services, it stands out as a freemium resource and has no subscription system (for most of its part). It is an equally excellent application for YouTubers, gamers, twitch streamers, small businesses, and even programmers to chat, play, do marketing, and learn programming in public servers.

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In our beginner’s guide to Discord, we will look at what it offers. Besides, we will cover other aspects like its functionality, main features, why it stands out from other applications, exactly the cost of Discord Nitro, what other services, at present, are offering the same features, and basic knowledge of servers and channels. We will also cover the different aspects like creating servers, adding friends and family members, organizing discord channels, using discord bots, discord nitro, and using video chat to share the screen. Let’s begin!

Discord Banner

What Is Discord?

Discord is, actually, a free communication app for chatting and streaming games, especially for highly competitive games like Minecraft, Destiny 2, LoL, Genshin Impact, and Call of Duty.
Back in time, MIRC channels were viral amongst the gaming community. But after their shutdown, there was a significant gap to fill that space. Discord was released in 2015, and at the start, it was mainly oriented towards gaming and to fill the void of a VOIP app for instant communication. Since its release, it has gathered over 250 million users with diverse needs and the gaming community. It is a cocktail of useful features of Skype, Slack, MIRC, and Teamspeak. However, it focused on text and Voice channels and server-based communication, which we will discuss later in the article.
As a #1 chatting platform for gaming, Discord not only targets just gaming enthusiasts. It is equally popular now in programmers, influencers, developers, business and company teams, and family members as it emerged as an overall better platform. Thanks to its wide range of useful features that it has gathered an audience from all sectors. It provides tools like voice channels, text channels, private texts, custom servers, embedded media support, private servers, bot support, and role allocation. Discord offers these all features in one application that no other app has offered.

Add Friends, Family, and Colleagues

Add Friends on Discord (1)

Like any other chat application, adding friends and contacts to the friend’s list is the most basic Discord function. Friend list gives the liberty of avoiding public channels and chat in private. Once the list is ready and friends have added, it becomes straightforward to use the direct message service.

There are two different ways to add a friend to your friend list. The first method is to use the search box option in the Discord app. You will need to enter the username of the friend in the add friend option and search it. The second method is adding a friend from the same server. In this method, you and your buddy need to be on the same server. Search can be possible using the member list of the servers. From that list, right-click the name and select “Add Friend” Both of these methods are easy and straightforward.

Once the request goes from one end, it reaches at other ends in the form of notification. The other user has a liability to add or ignore the friend request. You can always search using the unique username to add a friend.

After adding a buddy to the friend list, a direct message or DM service becomes available. DM is a direct or 1:1 text and voice channel which supports video calls, voice over the internet, and text messages. Direct message groups support up to 9 people on your friend list. They can send each other text and chat in these groups.

Creating Server on Discord

Creating Servers on Discord (1)

Creating a server on Discord is a straightforward and easy process. It requires no special knowledge to make and manage servers. There are plenty of servers available already in the Discord app, and if you feel any need to create a separate server on a topic, you need to understand how they work and how to manage them first.

Discord server is a chat room where people interact and communicate with each other on different channels. The channel side groups or spaces are divided based on topics of interest within servers. These channels are text and voice channels. User permissions can be applied to individual channels to make them private. Allowed members can only access those private channels. This way, channels play an essential role in managing users of different interests and for different tasks.

There is no limit to join servers in the Discord application. One user can is allowed to be part of multiple servers at the same time. Roles are given to the users when they join a server. These roles identify the user and its permission within the server. There are thousands of already established servers. Youtuber, twitch streamers, and business marketers are now using Discord servers to promote and target audience.

Linking Your Accounts Through Discord

Linking Accounts on Discord (1)

There is an increase in influencers and content creators switching to Discord. As they move the audience to the Discord in their servers and communities, it becomes essential to connect social accounts. Discord features the addition of Xbox Live, Reddit, Facebook, Spotify, Steam, Twitter, Twitch, and Youtube accounts. This way, it is easy to manage social media channels without any fuss.

Connecting social media accounts to Discord is a straightforward process. Just go into the linked account option and add accounts from the list. Once the accounts are linked, it is easy to manage and use the platform’s relevant audience. Discord shows your friend what games are you playing by showing their name in your profile.

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Go Live with Discord

Chatting on Discord Servers (1)

Discord continues to evolve since its launch and adding new features to its core app. Just like this, Discord developers introduce one step ahead of voice and text channels. They have added a new Go Live mode for easy and quick screen sharing. It is also used for streaming the gameplay or any other activity you are doing on your device.

There is no limitation in using this feature. Streamers and businesses are equally using this free feature. Go Live is started from the voice channel once you join it. After that, click the screen share button in front of that channel name. It asks for the setting and screen to be shared. Once it is selected with just basic settings, streaming can be started.

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Discord Bots

Chatbots are not a new thing in chatting applications. Whatsapp introduced such bots to automate the news and customer chats. Similarly, Discord Bots are automated scripts that make it easy to manage servers. They automate server management. They can kick or ban a user on the server. Bots are used to welcome new users, register them on the server, allocate them roles, and play games.

To set up a bot in a server, you need to get it from online websites like the top.gg, Discord Bots, and Bots on Discord. From these websites, you can filter out the bot according to date of creation, popularity, or topic. Invite a bot to your server and authorize it to perform allocated functions. Discord welcomes the developers to create their bot. You have to add the created bot to the development portal of Discord. From there, you can set its parameters and add desired functions to the bot.

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Connect Games

Playing and Streaming game on Discord

Discord allows the game developers to connect and sell their games on their servers. Small fees make it possible to host games on a personalized store and sell it using your servers. Minimum fees of 10% of all profit earned are taken by Discord. When considered the Steam and Epic percentages, it seems to very good.

Further, game developers can get additional perks by verification and Rich Presence. It enables them to get a better online presence and excellent sound in voice channels. After verification and rich presence, game developers can brand their products. Sale metrics of games can be analyzed daily and managed.

Discord Nitro

Discord is 100% free of cost for all of its essential functions. There are no fees for using it for creating servers, adding friends, and developing huge communities. But there are some features that Discord offers in addition to the regular features that cost some cash.

Every company needs some cash flow in their accounts, which helps them to run and operate. Similarly, Discord generates its segment of income from Discord Nitro Subscription. It is both a monthly and annual based subscription of around 10$ per month/100$ per year. Getting access to it enables us to use some of the premium features. With this subscription, users can access animated emotes across all the servers. It let the user stream in 4k resolution and boosts their servers. Discord Nitro lifts the limit of file uploads and allows them to upload files bigger in size. Overall it increases the functionality of the server also gives better streaming.

The Competition

Discord is undoubtfully an excellent application that offers VOIP, thousands of servers, public and private chats, and video call features. We have not seen any other applications that provide all these things. So in this competition, Discord stands alone.

After all, these perks Discord still being hugely used by the streamers and gamers. Although there is a considerable improvement in this regard in recent months, people from all other fields joined it. But for team meetings and official online conferences, it is still ignored to some extent. Slack and Microsoft teams are preferred and used by organizations and institutes. The problem is not that Discord cannot handle company meetings and message portal. The issue is that it is widely known as a gaming platform that acts as a hurdle to using it as a communication application for company based meetings and group texting.

Using Discord on Multiple Devices

Chatting on Discord Servers (1)

Application devs these days are getting smart and efficient. They are keen t develop an equally functional piece of application for all platforms. Similarly, Discord is present on all platforms. It is not only restricted to mobile devices. It works very well with Android, iPhone, PC/Laptop. That means that it is optimized for each of these platforms.

Discord mobile versions have the same features and functions as the PC/Laptop version. Both have servers, text and voice channels, screen sharing, and video call functions. So using it on multiple devices is possible with the same login as it is equally functional on all devices.

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Where To Download Discord?

This concise and informative guide on Discord covered topics regarding its functionality and scope. We can easily declare that it is one of the best VOIP services that provide services that are offered separately by other applications. It combines all the right services and presents users with an ideal platform for chatting, gaming, marketing, and growing business online. We have provided every piece of information to get you started with this fantastic application.

You can download its official application from the Official Discord Website.

If you have any queries or questions, please contact us in the comment section below and let us know your queries and positive feedback.