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Discord and The Guild/RPing

Hidden 7 yrs ago → 7 yrs ago Post by Nytem4re
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I wasn't sure whether to put this in RP discussion or Off-Topic, but it sort of relates towards gming/roleplaying. A mod can move it if they don't feel the same way.

Anyways, there's been a long standing "debate" if you could call it, about whether discord is harmful to guild/guild traffic.

I'm the sort who believes discord is a "companion" for rpg, but of course there have been others who claim it is harmful to the site in general.

I'm going to address two arguments that people who are anti-discord generally state.

Discord draws people away from the site, therefore it is bad!

This statement, imo, has a sliver of truth, but only just a sliver. It did draw people away from the on-site chat, because, lets be honest, it was garbage compared to discord. It had basic functionalities and it's draw was really only to communicate to other people on the site through IM. Not to mention moderation hardly happened in the chat, further distancing people away from the on-site chat.

Discord just became more popular because it was simply a better alternative. You could make individual channels, have more than just basic functionality, and a better mobile interface. RPG has always had a problem with it's mobile version, because it's simply just bad.

So yes, it did draw people "away" from the guild. But that statement is deceptive imo because people on the discord still go on here for their roleplaying needs.

Yes, they aren't using the OOC sections as much as they would have then. But IM is better for just idle conversation, without spamming the OOC with just "how are you guys doing" or "wassup". But people clearly still use the OOC for character sheets, etc. And of course they use the IC section because if we wanted to IM rp, rpers wouldn't be here to begin with.

Another reason why I believe this statement does not have merit is because many people use the discord to find people they like to rp with. And those who simply just use the discord never really had an incentive to go be active on the site. Some people just like the community, and discord makes it easier to just go in and have a friendly chat. Some people just got busy with rl, and it's easier to pop on discord than it is on the site (mostly because discord has a better mobile interface) It's more accessible compared to RPG.

It just makes RPG a portal!

Well... sorry to break it to you, but rpg has always been a "portal". Even before the days of discord people had skype groups. Am I "taking" away the appeal of rpg if I invite some friends to go play some video games instead? No. If I go pursue biking, or go to the gym, I am merely doing other things. Same with going on discord.

At it's purest form, RPG is just a site with "links" or "access" to different roleplays.

People have lives and other hobbies to pursue. If anything, life commitments and other hobbies are the biggest "draw" away from RPG. RPG is just a medium for RPing. It's not the "one stop" website I think people are expecting it to be.

Discord has only really replaced the on-site chat, which was just.. bad. It has not, however, replaced RPG's function as a post by play forum. If you actually went on discord, you can find plenty of GM's who have had channels dedicated to OOC talk for their rps.

Discord is merely an "accessory" towards RPG in general.

I just don't get why RPG and Discord cannot co-exist. They do not replace one or the other. The furthest extent of "replacing" anything was the on site chat. (which was pretty light on activity compared to discord, and devoid of many features/moderation) The purpose of RPG is to have a platform for roleplaying, and Discord is to foster community interaction.

I'd really like someone who is "Anti-Discord" to try and enlighten me on why they see discord as this big bad app that is doing harm to the site. if anything, I'd say it keeps the sense of community alive.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Dion
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is this even a debate or is it literally two people in the status bar crying about something that doesn't exist

i think it's the latter
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Cyndyr
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The idea that the Discord is negatively affecting the Guild is absolutely ridiculous. It's literally the same audience of individuals with the same personalities, interests, and so on. Just because Johnny Jay is a jerk on Discord doesn't mean that he's not a jerk on the Guild as well. Blame the users, not the platform. You don't blame a knife because you decide to stab someone, do you? That definitely wouldn't hold up in a modern court of law.

And more importantly, there's this:
is this even a debate or is it literally two people in the status bar crying about something that doesn't exist

i think it's the latter

/s
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Ellri
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"We're innocent. As is our knife. He is guilty though. He ran into our knife seventy-two times."

RPs that regularly use discord (or other communications platforms like that) often end up having a less active OoC. But that does not mean that having discord is bad for the guild. The reason people set up things like that is because communicating purely through threads is often too slow.
Hidden 7 yrs ago → 7 yrs ago Post by RumikoOhara
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How interesting, I was using the Discord option and noticed that it got like the table babble of a Table Top RP

I run a LUG Star Trek game every other weekend and my biggest problem is keeping people focused on the game instead of talking about what happened at work or school, who they were dating now and so forth.

It's a natural thing for people to chat on what's going on in their lives among their friends and Gaming groups are friends of shared interest but that was mostly what I saw on Discord so I ceased using it

Presently there are a little over 200 members active at this moment and 140 of those are tagged into Discord

Sure not all of those listed are actively posting on discord and have signed in to see if anyone in the group is in the chat.

Then there is the evidence of the slow moving threads in the forums that seemed to lose posting frequency after Discord became the chat
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Nytem4re
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How interesting, I was using the Discord option and noticed that it got like the table babble of a Table Top RP

I run a LUG Star Trek game every other weekend and my biggest problem is keeping people focused on the game instead of talking about what happened at work or school, who they were dating now and so forth.

It's a natural thing for people to chat on what's going on in their lives among their friends and Gaming groups are friends of shared interest but that was mostly what I saw on Discord so I ceased using it

Presently there are a little over 200 members active at this moment and 140 of those are tagged into Discord

Sure not all of those listed are actively posting on discord and have signed in to see if anyone in the group is in the chat.

Then there is the evidence of the slow moving threads in the forums that seemed to lose posting frequency after Discord became the chat


So you're mad people want to talk about things other than rping? Ummm... people are going to do that regardless of discord.

And where is this evidence? This is the first I've heard of the so called evidence.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by RumikoOhara
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Oh so this is a personal strike and not a debate; No Thank You
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by mickilennial
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Probably because there is not a debate, which is why people think this notion that discord is unproductive for the site at large (I guess the mIRC and other chat features the site has had were unproductive too?) is ridiculous. It's just a subjective dialogue that is as irrelevant as it is inane.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by SmileyJaws
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This is really dumb and shouldn't be necessary.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by mickilennial
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This is really dumb and shouldn't be necessary.

Hidden 7 yrs ago → 7 yrs ago Post by Nytem4re
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Oh so this is a personal strike and not a debate; No Thank You


Alright since you seem have been "triggered" by what I assume is the use of word angry, I'll give you a completely different and detailed interpretation.

At the very least, you seem disappointed by the fact that your rp group could not start right away with the tabletop, or that it's hard to stop them from talking about rl stuff.

This statement is pointless because it's only one personal story. Mileage varies as I have never had that problem with my tabletop group.

Secondly, you bring up the point that there are 140 users online on discord and 200 on rpg. Again, both user counts do not account for someone going afk, as discord simply keeps you logged in on mobile, deceptively inflating the number of users actually "active".

Lastly, you claim to have evidence that discord use correlates with lower post counts in rp threads. Now I asked for the evidence because I highly doubt you looked at when the discord was made, gathered several rps to research, found the avg number of posts before and after discord and compared them, and also accounted for outside variables such as when school is out or in session, and people getting jobs or more hours at work.

There you go. You can go say I'm making it personal, but after this post it ain't true at all.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Nytem4re
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Probably because there is not a debate, which is why people think this notion that discord is unproductive for the site at large (I guess the mIRC and other chat features the site has had were unproductive too?) is ridiculous. It's just a subjective dialogue that is as irrelevant as it is inane.


Most of the interactions have been mostly on status updates, so yeah, there hasn't actually been an actual debate.

The point of this topic was to actually engage those who disliked discord, because they might have had something that might give me a new perspective on their viewpoints.

Of course, I also don't have the luxury of arrogance and self-righteousness, as I actually wanted to better understand where an anti-discord crowd might be coming from.

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Hidden 7 yrs ago → 7 yrs ago Post by Cyndyr
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In tonight's story, we shockingly learn that Roleplayers never had lives and Roleplays never progressed slowly prior to the creation of Discord. Stay tune for more details at eleven. In the meantime, here's a moving picture of a corgi:


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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by BrokenPromise
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I'd like to start by saying that I don't believe Discord is a huge problem for RPs. GMs can decide for themselves if they want to use discord or not.

But I am not a huge fan of discord. I like the slower pace of forum OOC posting, as it's much easier to keep up with. While I'm at work, I can miss several important conversations on discord. That never seems to happen when everything is kept on the forum. That, and it's just an extra place where I have to check for questions that were directed at me. And since I like reading forum posts, the fact that the OOC banter has almost entirely vanished is a negative to having an RP discord.

I just find it kind of distracting. It's really a matter of preference, and I don't think you're going to have much luck debating people on it. You're comparing apples to oranges.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago → 7 yrs ago Post by NuttsnBolts
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Before Discord I used Skype.
Before Skype I used Raidcall.
Before Raidcall I used MSN Messenger.

During those times I was still on forums and still posting for whatever reason was needed. As stated above Discord is another tool that can be used to aid in the production of a post and similar chats are out there which do the exact same thing. Chatzy, Pirate/Titanpad Chat, and even Google Docs' chat are all services that can be used for the same reason and have been used for years.

So what makes discord different? It comes down to its ease of use (compared to website chats), the attractiveness of the app itself (it has a desktop and mobile app that other chats don't have), and it also protects your identity (unlike Skype). In summary it is a quality app.

So looking at the statement "Discord draws people away from the site, therefore it is bad!", I do have to wonder...
What is this statement referring to? Does it mean that there is less OOC chatter? If that is the case then perhaps we need to evaluate the situation from a different angle and ask whether the number of posts in IC have increased due to the chat's introduction. It makes sense if you can transfer information accords to others quicker and easier.

Whatever the case and as I said before, I previously used Raidcall (all hail the Russian programmers) and our group of friends from when I was roleplaying back in 2013/2014 had no problems or issues with a chat killing off site activity. I do believethat this is a null value debate and it is mostly because people will simply gravitate to the form of communication that they feel comfortable with.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Lady Absinthia
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Okay, going to throw in my two copper pieces as it were.

The chat is both good and bad for the forum. It just depends on how you use it.

Good:
  • Allows you rapid communication when others are online
  • Let's you get to know your fellow Rpers on a more personal level
  • You can meet people you normally wouldn't outside of your main Rp group
  • Hearing about Rps you might have missed interest checks for
  • Finding out an Rp you thought was interesting is now open again for new people quickly
  • General talk in chat can cut down in OOC spam


Bad:
  • People can tend to spend too much time in chat and get distracted from posting
  • If not moderated constantly can turn into Smut central
  • People tend to type before they speak and it can lead to trolling beyond the norm or emotional outbrusts
  • If not careful, it can still an OOC and cause an RP to go stagnate
  • Can be a bit intimidating to join if you are an introvert
  • With the amount of people under the age of 16 on the forum, really needs to have a heavier set of rules for youth protection against bullying and other things.


Now, with both the pros and cons - you can easily argue against either. And of course there are more good and bad points than I have listed. Good points can be shot down under the right circumstances. Draw backs can be dealt with using the right tactics.

So overall - A chat, like discord, is not a bad thing. It is how you use it. I personally use a private chat for all members of Rp's I GM - main reason is to cut down on spam in OOC and so people can get to know each other. It helps keep us tightly knit and I have found over the long term the pros out weigh the cons. (The length of running for my rp's and the Rpers in them sticking it out can attest to that.)

This is one of those situations that it boils down to this - To each their own. As long as it works for you, have fun. If it doesn't, just don't be a member of it. If you are a Gm and are having issues in your Rp you feel are because of the chat, simply address your Rpers and work it out - it isn't up the community at large to drop something a large amount enjoy just because you are having a problem. As a Gm your Rp is your responsibility, no one elses.

Again, just my two copper pieces.
~Lady A
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Nytem4re
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Okay, going to throw in my two copper pieces as it were.

The chat is both good and bad for the forum. It just depends on how you use it.

Good:
  • Allows you rapid communication when others are online
  • Let's you get to know your fellow Rpers on a more personal level
  • You can meet people you normally wouldn't outside of your main Rp group
  • Hearing about Rps you might have missed interest checks for
  • Finding out an Rp you thought was interesting is now open again for new people quickly
  • General talk in chat can cut down in OOC spam


Bad:
  • People can tend to spend too much time in chat and get distracted from posting
  • If not moderated constantly can turn into Smut central
  • People tend to type before they speak and it can lead to trolling beyond the norm or emotional outbrusts
  • If not careful, it can still an OOC and cause an RP to go stagnate
  • Can be a bit intimidating to join if you are an introvert
  • With the amount of people under the age of 16 on the forum, really needs to have a heavier set of rules for youth protection against bullying and other things.


Now, with both the pros and cons - you can easily argue against either. And of course there are more good and bad points than I have listed. Good points can be shot down under the right circumstances. Draw backs can be dealt with using the right tactics.

So overall - A chat, like discord, is not a bad thing. It is how you use it. I personally use a private chat for all members of Rp's I GM - main reason is to cut down on spam in OOC and so people can get to know each other. It helps keep us tightly knit and I have found over the long term the pros out weigh the cons. (The length of running for my rp's and the Rpers in them sticking it out can attest to that.)

This is one of those situations that it boils down to this - To each their own. As long as it works for you, have fun. If it doesn't, just don't be a member of it. If you are a Gm and are having issues in your Rp you feel are because of the chat, simply address your Rpers and work it out - it isn't up the community at large to drop something a large amount enjoy just because you are having a problem. As a Gm your Rp is your responsibility, no one elses.

Again, just my two copper pieces.
~Lady A


Just going to say that smut doesn't really happen on discord. I've never seen smutting at least on any of the rpg affiliated discords. It's not really an issue, but moderation still is an issue, I can agree with you on that.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Dervish
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Personally, I think Discord is super handy for just socializing and having game related sub channels that can be kept separate from spam or off topic banter. It also is great for tagging people you need to talk to about the RP, get collabs rolling, and pinning messages.

That said, not everyone has Discord and as others have mentioned, stuff gets buried if the chat is busy. I think GM related announcements and inportant info should always be posted OOC, or just general player updates and remarks. A balance of both is good. I just think it's silly to discount a tool entirely because it takes attention off site.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Lady Absinthia
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@Nytem4re My post was about chats in general, not just discord. As far as it not happening on Discord - just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't occur.
Hidden 7 yrs ago → 7 yrs ago Post by Nytem4re
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@Nytem4re My post was about chats in general, not just discord. As far as it not happening on Discord - just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't occur.


True, but I was in the unofficial and official guild chats for a while and there wasn't really any problem with smutting, not to mention I modded the latter for a while.

If it was happening, it was most likely between PMs.

That's not to say discord didn't bring other issues though.

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