As someone who admittedly has an increasingly unhealthy obsession with Minecraft, I have searched high and low for like-minded people. I have joined Facebook groups, religiously follow #Minecraft hashtags on Twitter and Instagram, and have become a regular contributor with hundreds of karma raked in from imparting my knowledge on Re1ddit. Of course, that still wasn’t enough. I wanted more! I needed to get in touch with more Mincraft heads, spend hours obsessing about the game, and know that I am in the company of others who love the game like me. Then, one of them introduced me to Discord.
Chatroom? Community? Social Network?
For noobs in this corner of the Internet, Discord may seem to be this mysterious corner of the Web where like-minded people congregate in very cult-like fashion. Well, a bit of that is true. For example, you are a huge fan of a game series and you’ve heard reports of a sequel that is currently in the works, with other information still scarce, though. If you go to Discord, look for an official server for the game series or if there’s already one, the server for the sequel. Obviously, you join it and you are automatically connected to people already in the server, people who are as excited as you when it comes to updates about the game series. Then, a developer happens to enter the server and chats with the group, thanking everyone for their support. Then, the other members of the servers throw some suggestions and feedback about the game. Suffice to say that some things that happen on Discord can really make a fan’s day.
That versatility has led large groups of users to embrace Discord as a place to meet and chat with people who have similar interest, not just friends. It’s part communications app, part social media portal. While the chat room side of the app, in which users can join public or private “servers,” is probably its most popular, it also provides a social forum that’s great for organizing people to play games as well.
(Via: https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/what-is-discord/)
What Else Can You Do on Discord
If you’re familiar with the workings of Reddit, you will surely find yourself much at home with Discord. That’s because users can do pretty much the same things on both platforms. The most basic of this would be to create and add new channels. Moreover, if you want to check if there are already Discord channels that are all about your current obsession, you don’t really have to log in to Discord. Just like what is popularly done in Reddit, you can Google “(your topic)” followed by “discord server”. Discord does have its own search engine for your perusal, but take note that it doesn’t really track all servers and mostly tracks the more popular ones. Just like other messaging and chat apps, Discord also allows members direct messaging, voice chatting, and even video chatting each other. To take your Discord experience to the next level, you can connect it to apps like Spotify and YouTube. There are desktop and mobile versions of the platform, so users can use it even when doing other activities, especially gaming.
Gaming is definitely Discord’s focus, at one point the service even gave free away PC games to paid subscribers before realizing it couldn’t beat Steam. However, any online community can take advantage of the features Discord offers. More on its other uses in a bit.
(Via: https://sea.pcmag.com/how-to-work-from-home/37330/what-is-discord-and-how-do-you-use-it)
Great, So Can you Join a Discord Server ASAP?
The answer to that actually no. If you’ve already done your Google research and saw that there is a channel dedicated to the topic you are most interested in, you need to get invited to join a server. Get in touch with someone already in the channel, then ask for an invite. Once you receive the link to an invite, try to accept it right away so that you can join in all the fun. Besides, there are invite links that expire within a day after they are created.
To join a Discord server without the app, click on the invite link provided to you. Discord invite links will look something like this: https://discord.gg/XxX1X1
(https://www.howtogeek.com/662956/how-to-join-a-discord-server/)
So, why not join Discord and find companionship with people who share your interests? But if you’re current obsession is getting back all the files that may have gone missing from your external hard drive, we are here to help.