User blog:ElizabethB/How we use Discord, a voice and text chat app, for better clan communication

Our clan, Swarm of Knaves, has been using the app, Discord, for voice and text chats. It is AWESOME!

About Discord
Discord is a free app available for download on your desktop or mobile device.

One of our senior clan members and resident Discord expert, Yahtzee, suggested using Discord to better communicate and coordinate with the rest of the clan. Because it is super helpful during battles, the app has been well received by the clan. We are trying to make participation in Discord mandatory, but it takes some time getting everyone set-up.

Yahtzee, who set up Discord for the clan, is the administrator and moderator of all things Discord. Woo-hoo Yahtzee (every clan should be so lucky to have such an outstanding team member)!

Text Channels


In this screenshot, you can see our text channels: #general, #lineup_ideas, and #invites. The #general text channel is like clan chat in War Robots. It's for random and general comments.

We use #lineup_ideas to show screenshots of our hangar lineup and suggested lineups for the clan. That way, we can refer to a lineup and try to match our hangar to that particular lineup when we play together. As a newer, or casual, or slightly disorganized clan, you may have noticed that some players will put you in a different matchmaking tier. By setting parameters for bots and weapons, this helps alleviate matchmaking nightmares.

We also created an #invites channel to show screenshots of players we've invited or would like to invite. Anyone can chime in and say yea or nay.

Another propsed text channel will house clan rules and serve as a welcome guide for new players. That way, the clan leader doesn't have to repeat the same spiel to every new player that joins (no joke, it can be very time consuming!). This text channel will be static (if that's possible) and members will be discouraged from posting to this channel.

Voice Channels
The voice channels are for battle chats. If you have many active players in your clan, you will want multiple voice channels! That way, participants in different battles can still communicate without getting lumped in all together (how confusing!).



And, of course, the quality of the voice channels is great. Generally, we don't have issues with people dropping out, static, delays, or other issues. When you first sign in to Discord from your mobile device, click on the settings icon (the little cog at the bottom, to the right of the microphone and headset icon) and make sure your settings look something like the screenshot to the left.

Direct Messaging
Sometimes you have an issue with a particular member, or you need to consult with a member about team decisions, but you don't want to annouce it to the whole group. Discord also features secure direct messaging so you can message the individual directly.

Images
Unlike clan chat in War Robots, you can post images on Discord. This is great for sharing hangar lineups, player invitations, showing team stats after a match, and more!

Tags
Taking a cue from social media, you can tag members in a chat or tag everyone using the @everyone tag.

Links
If you paste an URL on Discord, it will automatically generate the link so all your team members have to do is click. Sometimes, it even includes an image and page title (another cue from social media).

Setting up Discord
Since I did not set our clan up on Discord, I don't know how that works. According to the Discord site, it's super easy...

But, what members will need to participate is an email account. You can participate in one-off sessions on Discord, but if you want to be a 'permanent' member on a server (like with the rest of your clan), then you will need to sign up with an email address, verify that email address, and create a username (preferably your in-game name).

Once a member sets up a server for their clan on Discord, it's very easy to generate invites from Discord and paste them onto clan chat. You can generate temporary invitations (good for 24 hours) or permanent invitations.

Summary
All in all, Discord has made us a more effective and communicative clan. And, what I've noticed, is that everyone has a lot more fun—which is really what it's all about.