EFU Discord?

[Howlando]

What does the player base think about implementing an EFU Discord Channel?

Note: We will always strictly disallow the use of voip while playing. But it does seem that Discord is becoming increasingly popular and may serve our needs well.

But up to you guys.

[Necro]

It's a superior webchat site, better than any other i've used so far. Extremely easy to use and very easy to customize to fit any servers needs for chatting. I use it extensively everyday- not to mention you don't have to worry about crashing and suddenly losing the entire conversation, and netsplits aren't a thing on discord.

[SanTelmo]

The old classic IRC will prevail.

Simple with nothing else than date&time, nick and message.

Easy to navigate through and follow even massive chats going on (as often happens on main channel).

Privacy.

No smileys, no gorillas, no memelinks.

Vote to stay in IRC now. You won't regret it.

[Silvermoon_Dervish]

I'm for doing away with IRC and handling everything via forum PMs and a dictatorially moderated web chat for emergencies you get shunted out of once your business is concluded. Can we vote for that?

[VanillaPudding]

Only if it can be globally muted, handle "announcements" (or utilize a non intrusive bot to repeat such every 15 minutes or something), support faction channels somehow without needing their own "servers", protect from spamming idiots, and so on.

[IIIIIIIII]

If we're not using voice chat then I don't really know what discord offers over irc aside from being newer.


edit: On second thought, I'm not opposed to EFU Discord. I just hate change and I'd get used to it.

[Kotenku]

Pros:
+users can receive messages when not online, and are effectively idled in IRC for as long as they're a member of the discord server. Should make keeping in touch with old hands a lot easier if they leave EFU but keep using discord.
+the app is perfectly portable from PC to Phone, or any device that can run a web browser.
+Discord provides a secure API for scripting IRC features. on Discord we can very easily replicate and extend the capabilities provided by Sanctuarybot
+By default, all members of the discord server are in a set of public channels
+Discord is the new popular thing that everybody who plays vidgamz these days has. in other words, it's a lower cost of entry for new players

Cons:
+Discord includes Voice chat capability. You don't HAVE to include voice channels on a server, but switching to discord comes with the implicit knowledge that everybody on the server is currently logged in to a voice chat app with any number of private alternate servers where people CAN voice chat in near-perfect secrecy. The upshot is : this has ALWAYS been possible.
++Most DMs are on record as being completely opposed to voice chat being used in game, ever.
+discord's appearance is pretty much limited to how far you zoom the text, and whether you prefer a dark color scheme or a light one

[zDark Shadowz]

No reason not to. I don't really go on IRC much as it is, and thus miss spontaneous event notices cause I'm watching anime lol.

[Kinslayer988]

I am for it only if  sending/shouts are recorded in a room

[A dream of existence]

Discord basically does everything IRC already does, and more, with a cleaner layout through channels and better possibility for announcement system.

[putrid_plum]

If your goal is to appeal to new players then I would go for it. 

[house of understanding]

I think plum has hit the nail on the head in its most simple of arguments. There exists a middle ground that Kotenku got set up where IRC is relayed to discord and vice-versa, perhaps?

[Howlando]

So I'm new to Discord, but having played around with it some can see a number of advantages.

Channel management is a lot easier, so we can have things like #askadm and DMs will actually be responsive to it as we won't have to deal with bothering to set up auto-join on IRC, etc.

We can make it so text in a channel can be reviewed later on even if you're not logged on, this will be incredibly useful for keeping DMs up to date with plot things/discussion as we almost never update our private forums with everything that is going on.

That will also be useful for some kind of welcome channel where new players can see and review issues for common problems, might save us on having to answer the same questions over and over again.

You can change the settings to an IRC'esque text display and even zoom out text far faster viewing.

I like that there is a mobile app.

Some kind of IRC relay bot seems like it will make the transition a lot easier.

And finally, there is a wider NWN community that we're pretty disconnected with - I think having Discord may well bring us some good new players.

[Howlando]

.... but there are a lot of "no" votes here. If people (aside from elmo) have really strong objections, I'd really like to hear them, either here or in private. Perhaps there are things that I'm unaware of or have not considered.

I think we all just want what is best for EFU!

[Stranger]

I put together a long post to argue in on behalf of Discord, but it seems like we've already decided in favor.

If you've never used it before, here are some examples of the default interface.