Popular app Discord isn't just for gaming anymore, despite popular belief. The streaming and communication service has been a mainstay of the video gaming community since its inception. Now, however, the company says it is focusing its efforts on providing communications services for everyone, not just gamers.
The company launched in 2015, and now Discord servers boast more than 100 million monthly active users. That's a lot of people, and not all of them are gamers. However, the chat app was originally built with video game users in mind, and filled with in-jokes that only a gamer could love.
On June 30th, Discord announced a change to the chatting platform on their blog. Gone are the days of leaning on the old "gamer tropes" as a new era of inclusivity is born. According to founder Jason Citron, Discord is shedding their old branding, and adopting a new company tagline, which will be simply "Your place to talk."
In addition to changing taglines, Discord also has a new, more colorful website featuring a cast of aliens from all walks of life. Citron says the app has a streamlined on-boarding experience, increased voice and video capacity by 200 percent, and made the jokes and references within the app more inclusive. Citron says many users expressed frustration with the app, saying, "Many of you told us that the biggest misconception you hear about Discord is that it’s 'only for gaming,' but you feel Discord’s for 'literally everyone' and 'for anyone who likes to talk.'"
It's the right move for a service that wants to keep growing and changing. The company is no doubt looking at past competitors to understand where they want to go in the future. One of the problems with an app like Skype is it didn't acknowledge that a lot of its users came from the gaming community and beyond and kept a hard focus on business services. As Discord matures as an app and as a business, they have to accommodate the users they have, while also throwing out the welcome mat for any new users who decide to stop by.
Many people are stuck at home during the COVID-19 crisis with only streaming and voice or video chatting as an outlet. It's the right time for an app like Discord to make a move toward inclusion. Whether it is a server just for sharing memes, a Dungeons and Dragons role play hub, or a place for communities to gather for multiple purposes, Discord is trying to be all things for all people, and it just might work.
Source: Discord Blog