Discord was formerly used as a virtual chat service by video game players to communicate with each other during gameplay without having to sacrifice quality by using in-game chat. Now, Discord is a chat platform that can be effectively utilized by anyone to communicate with friends and colleagues alike in a high-quality, easy to understand and use environment.

Discord has been used more often than texting, FaceTime or Skype because of its multifunctionality. In Discord, users can chat with people, call them, join voice chats, stream their screen or webcam and host Discord servers for them and their friends. This multifunctionality allows people to take full advantage of Discord’s numerous benefits regardless of whether they enjoy playing video games or not.

“Any time that I would meet with my friends in person, usually we would plan it or discuss it over Discord,” Brandon Lai, a sophomore at Burlingame High School said.

According to Lai, Discord is useful regardless of whether someone plays video games because it is designed to appeal to multiple communicative needs. Even when someone is planning to meet with friends outside of video games, Discord can help make planning and coordination much easier. In the age of COVID-19, an easy-to-use chat service is incredibly useful, especially as a means of coordinating a safe meetup.

Aside from its numerous benefits in communication with friends and colleagues, Discord is also an app where users can meet people from around the world who share similar interests and hobbies. Lai has made new friends by communicating with like-minded people over Discord.

“Some people who are creators or people who just want to meet others will create Discord servers, and if other people join them, they can meet new people, make friends…they have rules and regulations to make sure that things aren’t anarchy,” Lai said.

Its rules and regulations prevent Discord from being a harmful place on the internet, and since Discord servers are so easy to create, meeting new people and making new friends is easy.

Discord has provided a platform for communication for years now, but only recently has it become popular and more necessary. This can be attributed to the recent rise in popularity of video games and the increased demand for applications of this type due to social distancing.