In this episode of Women of the Metaverse, discover Discord—a popular communication platform for creating communities and connecting through voice, video, and text. Originally for gamers, it now caters to a wide range of users, offering features like chat, servers, direct messaging, media sharing, bots, and community management. Available on desktop, web, and mobile, Discord provides a versatile and feature-rich solution for connecting and collaborating in the metaverse. Join millions of users and explore a new way to engage and create digitally.

MENTIONED IN THIS WEBSITE
Discord: https://discord.com
Midjourney: https://www.midjourney.com/app

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Show Transcription

[00:00:00] Cheryl: Welcome to Women of the Metaverse. I am Cheryl Laidlaw.

[00:00:08] Angela: I am Angela Harkness. We have been and are still on a journey to discover the Metaverse Web 3.0 NFTs, and anything that we are required to know to join this world.

[00:00:21] Cheryl: From this podcast, we will help you to unlock how the Metaverse is gonna impact your brand.

[00:00:27] Cheryl: Your business and even your personal life.

[00:00:30] Angela: Join us as we take the mystery out of this new digital universe. Welcome to Women of Metaverse. In this episode, we are talking about Discord. Discord is a popular communication platform designed for creating communities and connecting with others through voice, video, and text.

[00:00:53] Angela: It was initially created for gamers. So they could interact whilst playing games online, but has [00:01:00] expanded to include a wide range of users, including hobbyists, professionals, and social groups. Discord allows users to create or join spaces, they call them servers, which are like virtual gathering places where people can chat, share media, collaborate on projects, and engage in various activities.

[00:01:21] Angela: But I know what you’re thinking. Don’t we have that already? I can talk to my friends using WhatsApp or any social media chat, but Discord is different. So what are some of the key features of Discord, Cheryl?

[00:01:36] Cheryl: Okay, so there is text and voice chat. So users can communicate with other users through text-based channels or voice channels, which support real time voice communication, similar to a conference call.

[00:01:50] Cheryl: Okay. So that’s like the basics. Then we’ve got servers and channels. So Discord operates on a [00:02:00] server and is channel structured. So servers are individual communities or groups and channels are Pacific discussion areas within those servers. So users can join multiple servers and participate in various channels.

[00:02:16] Cheryl: So for example, um, if you are part of one community and. Um, there might be little breakout subject areas that people can go and talk about. I dunno, say, I dunno, you’re into knitting. Um, there’s a group on Kering or something like that. I know that’s a completely different subject, but like little spinoffs.

[00:02:39] Cheryl: Um, you can also create, um, different servers for. Say you are a football team, maybe all the coaches have their own server in one where all the players have their server in another. So, but we are still all on the same channel, but you can just spider them all off. Um, then we have direct messaging, which we have of [00:03:00] course been using for about 20 years.

[00:03:03] Cheryl: So users can send direct messages to other users allowing for one-to-one or small group conversations, rich media, uh, sharing, which is. Basically what we Discord supports the sharing of images, videos, links, and other media flowers. So, so far, quite standard, apart from the fact that you can have groups and groups, um, on one server.

[00:03:27] Cheryl: So I didn’t realize how, uh, versatile discord was until I was actually shown by someone. Much younger than me that games.

[00:03:42] Cheryl: And, um, I was quite shocked to see that they were using, um, discord and, and that it originated actually for gamers because it’s just so easy for them to, uh, communicate whilst gaming. So what they do, and again, I, again, this is [00:04:00] probably a younger generation, but they watch, watch each other gaming. You can do this through Discord and you can also communicate obviously through Discord using the audio headset.

[00:04:13] Cheryl: And then you can communicate through text to other people that send you a message. ’cause you’re all on the discord. Uh, discord. You don’t have to come out in order to, um, in order to communicate with somebody else. So then everyone that you know, Well, again, the younger generation sits on the discord so that you can all communicate whether you are playing a game or you’re talking to your friend down the road and also while sharing what you’re doing because you’re so good at that game.

[00:04:44] Angela: But when you, when you think about that, if you think, particularly if you are sort of working from home, and one of the biggest problems that people talk about working from home is they feel isolated. Something like [00:05:00] Discord, if it was more widely used, could be, could help with that. Because there’s many different ways you could communicate, share information, share screens feel like, because I think the whole thing about gaming is they particularly feel like they’re in the same room together.

[00:05:19] Angela: They’re playing games together and they kind of, and. That’s, that creates like that community, even if it’s a small community of three or four players, it makes you feel like you’re with them, particularly if you are not in a position yet where you’re gonna use vr. Because we talk a lot when about vr, where if you are, you do feel like you are with that person.

[00:05:42] Angela: Mm-hmm. So I guess with Discord, the way it’s set up, it does. There are ways to make you feel. Much more connected to somebody. Yeah. And it could be something that work environments could use a lot more.

[00:05:56] Cheryl: Definitely. I, I was actually asked, can I watch you [00:06:00] code? And I, and I said, how, you know, how we, how are we gonna do that?

[00:06:04] Cheryl: I was like, oh, through the discord and you won’t even know I’m there and I’m just watch. And I was just like, oh. That’s again, another interesting concept that I hadn’t even thought the Discord could. Facilitate. So that was really interesting. Yeah. I

[00:06:19] Angela: wonder if maybe sort of online courses or even mastermind groups move that way.

[00:06:26] Angela: Yeah, yeah.

[00:06:27] Cheryl: I think, um, once people get to grips with the, with the servers, it’s a much easier way to communicate. Yeah. ‘

[00:06:34] Angela: cause remember like with all of this, for example, zoom is amazing and obviously, Since Covid has just exponentially grown as a company, but it costs, it costs money, you know, so there are small businesses that don’t necessarily have the money to pay the monthly fee, but Zoom calls is, you know, [00:07:00] one of the ways that you can do it, particularly now that they’ve put a very strict.

[00:07:04] Angela: Timer on the free calls. Mm-hmm.

[00:07:06] Cheryl: Yeah, just call completely free. So yeah, that is definitely a

[00:07:09] Angela: tool that people need. Yeah, and, and also the thing to remember is it’s also decentralized and if you’re, if you need an explanation of decentralized that we have a whole episode on that, but that makes the data much more secure as well.

[00:07:24] Angela: Yes, so absolutely. Okay,

[00:07:26] Cheryl: so that’s like the basics. So here’s where it gets a little bit more interesting. So bots and integrations of the Discord. So Discord offers a wide range of bots and integrations that can enhance server functionality and provide additional features. Such as moderation, tools, music playback, and automated notifications.

[00:07:50] Cheryl: If you’ve had the chance to look at Mid Journey again, just on a episode, on Mid Journey this season, you would probably already know that they use Discord. [00:08:00] A lot of people wonder why Mid Journey uses Discord instead of a web app or mobile app. The design decision came about by accident. The Mid Journey team is remote, and during the development of Mid Journey, they use Discord to debug the system.

[00:08:20] Cheryl: In internally, the remote team found out that the Mid Journey bot let them collaborate more effectively with Discord. So that’s why, uh, mid Journey is based on Discord, because the coding was more efficient,

[00:08:39] Angela: right? If you haven’t used Mid Journey yet, you have to use it. It is incredible and you can use it for free for a little while.

[00:08:48] Angela: And this is another thing to say about Discord because Mid Journey does charge. So you can do charging through,

[00:08:56] Cheryl: yes, you can set up subscriptions, discord. [00:09:00] Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And I mean, mid, mid Journey is such a great tool. I think Andrew and I use it nearly every day to create images, um, for our podcasts and our branding images.

[00:09:11] Cheryl: Yeah. Um, but I love it. You’ll be blown away by what it can do, do if you get a chance to listen to our, um, episode and do go and explore and again, you, you’ll be exploring, um, discord at the same time. So it’s a two in one situation. Yeah. So community. Another one is community management. Again, we’ve touched upon that a little bit.

[00:09:35] Cheryl: So Discord provides tools for server owners and administrators to manage their communities effectively, including roles, permissions, moderation, features, and customization tools. So, Again, this is to do, if you are a bigger company that needs different sections, so you might have the section off the service for the marketing team, the [00:10:00] sales team, the accounts team.

[00:10:02] Cheryl: Um, so you don’t all get bogged down on one WhatsApp. We’ve all been on that group where you’re thinking, oh God, this is not re this is not related to me. I’m, I’m on a group at the moment where it’s all. Notifications, um, for a, a networking group, but we could, again, if it was, if it was moved over to the Discord, we could have one for events, we could have one for referrals, we could have one for, um, uh, yeah.

[00:10:30] Cheryl: Uh, recommendations. You know, like

[00:10:32] Angela: you can control it a lot more. Yeah. So se so Cheryl and I are both on a particular Discord server. For our world of women because we have World of Women NFTs, and you can just, if you wanted to join World of Women there, um, there’s discord, you could, but Cheryl and I have access to a different part of that discord because we’re, we, we [00:11:00] have NFTs, so you can section off bits that are private.

[00:11:03] Angela: The same on mid journey. If you pay for the subscription, you have more access. Whereas if you just go in and use it, you, you can only use the kind of new user art. So if you were to set up your own Discord server, you could separate out if you have a membership and different levels of membership, or like Cheryl said, different, you know, parts of your business.

[00:11:27] Angela: Yeah, yeah. Different discussions. So it sort of, it, it works really well to kind of. Break down communication can control it. You’ve, yeah, you’ve got a lot more control over it. Unlike, if you think about when Facebook groups came out, they’re great. Facebook groups are really good, but you’ve got so little control over them.

[00:11:46] Angela: There’s so many things you can’t do. Mm-hmm. This discord seems to give you a lot more control. It is like your server and you kind of do what you want with it. Yeah,

[00:11:56] Cheryl: that’s, since I’ve been, I’ve been exploring it and again, mid journey’s helped. [00:12:00] Um, and obviously speaking to younger folk,

[00:12:03] Angela: younger youth, speaking to the youth,

[00:12:08] Cheryl: um, I can actually see all the benefits and actually, uh, why, why aren’t we using this free tool more?

[00:12:15] Cheryl: Um, it’s decentralized. It’s got far more features and yeah,

[00:12:19] Angela: and to be honest with you, Cheryl and I took a long time. To kind of get to grips, discord, get to grips with it. We, we went into it first and we were like, what is this? ’cause it is very different and it almost is. It does look like some, it’s basic.

[00:12:35] Angela: It looks very basic,

[00:12:36] Cheryl: doesn’t it? Yeah, it does look something out of the 19, like the nineties. Yeah.

[00:12:39] Angela: Like, you know, if anybody like me wore a, it worked in a place where you just use doss, you know, black screen, green type, green typeface, that, that’s a little bit what it looks like, but actually behind it.

[00:12:53] Angela: There’s, there’s a lot of power and you have a lot of control, so it’s worth going to have a look and persevering, [00:13:00] you know, join some groups. A lot of bigger companies now also are starting to have Discord servers that you can join.

[00:13:05] Cheryl: So, and I’ve, I have noticed that, um, community groups and memberships, um, have started to use it as their communication tool as well.

[00:13:14] Cheryl: So it is slowly getting more and more out there. Yeah. So if you haven’t used Discord, where is it available?

[00:13:22] Angela: Angela? Okay, so Discord is available as a desktop application, web app, a mobile app. And I have to say, I’ll use the mobile app a lot more now, particularly for Mid Journey. Do you, because Yeah, I, because I, it took me a long time to remember I had it, and when we create images for the episodes, I just get up, got my pc, do like put in the prompt and then then think, oh, I want this image.

[00:13:48] Angela: I go back on my PC to download the image and I thought, why am I doing this? I’ve got an app on my phone and it’s actually much easier to save the images from the app that, [00:14:00] because most of the time we are using them for say, Instagram or social media. So it’s actually a lot easier to create them. So I’ve been, I have been using the app a lot

[00:14:10] Cheryl: more.

[00:14:10] Cheryl: Okay. All right.

[00:14:10] Angela: I’ll bear that in mind. Yes. So whether you are a gamer, hobbyist, professional, or simply looking to join like-minded individuals, discord provide versatile and feature rich solution for engaging with others. Furthermore, discord provides the necessary tools to create a safe and engaging environment for users.

[00:14:30] Angela: So why not give Discord a try? Join the millions of users already experiencing the benefits of this platform and discover a new way to connect, collaborate, and create. In the Metaverse, we have our server called Women of the Metaverse. We would love to see you over there. Thank you for listening to Women of the Metaverse.

[00:14:49] Angela: We hope you enjoyed this episode and gained valuable insights into the world of discord. Stay tuned for our next episode where we continue our journey into the Metaverse. Bye [00:15:00] for now. Bye. Thank you for listening to this episode of Women of the Metaverse.

[00:15:06] Cheryl: You can find all information, links and people we talked about in the show notes on our website.

[00:15:12] Cheryl: If you have

[00:15:13] Angela: enjoyed this podcast, Please comment and subscribe.

[00:15:17] Cheryl: Join us again in the next episode as we continue this exciting metaverse journey.