NFOServers Discord server

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lithium720
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NFOServers Discord server

Post by lithium720 »

Happy holidays all! :)

Has NFO / (Edge100x) considered or discussed making an official Discord server? I think it would be a more direct & convenient way to chat and ask general questions and stuff for many. I'd certainly be willing to hang out there and share some knowledge. Would also be a convenient way to stay up to date with you guys and hear whats going on within your network, as it is the primary medium of communication for a large amount of people these days (myself included).
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Re: NFOServers Discord server

Post by TacTicToe »

Everything you have described is already done via this forum, IRC and support tickets. As Discord is considered the bane of existence by GSP's, I doubt they will want to encourage Discord's use by making use of Discord.

Just my opinion though,
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Edge100x
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Re: NFOServers Discord server

Post by Edge100x »

We use IRC for random chat stuff currently. It's old but reliable, and we help to run the network behind it, so we know it can be trusted.

I'm not entirely against adding new ways to communicate, but my main concerns with Discord would be:

- I really prefer to use our own servers and bandwidth, giving us as much control as possible. Discord uses servers that others entirely control.
- Discord is still quite new and losing money, with a business model that is very much in flux. I'm not sure where they'll go with it. Skype is an example of the direction they could take (selling the company or adding plenty of advertisements), but they could also start going other ways, such as monetizing data mined from user chats. I hesitate to encourage the use of something that could be changing significantly in negative ways.
- We have to think carefully about adding more media that staff have to keep tabs on as part of the job. There's already a lot they have to do!
- Staff here shouldn't be chatting with customers by voice :). Voice-based communication is really inefficient in general.

There's an element of "flavor of the week" to Discord, as it's the latest cool, shiny chat software for gamers (IRC is a super-old, uncool thing, and Skype, Slack, and the standard rented voice chat programs are also no longer cool). But, Discord also has improvements that other software packages don't have, and significant momentum within the gaming community thanks to widespread, enthusiastic boosting. Those could end up giving it real staying power. Think Facebook (which was a late iteration of traditional social networks that had these factors over MySpace, Friendster, and the like) and CloudFlare (which is a recent iteration of CDNs and has these factors over old-school ones like Akamai -- with tons of marketing to boot). It will be interesting to see where it goes.
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Re: NFOServers Discord server

Post by lithium720 »

Everything you have described is already done via this forum, IRC and support tickets.
I agree with that, I'm just suggesting another place for those who don't use IRC but still want the instant messaging factor. I don't think I'll start using IRC just to hang out in the NFO IRC, either. I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way. I already use Discord a lot and it would be another convenient way to relay basic information & events to customers.
- I really prefer to use our own servers and bandwidth, giving us as much control as possible. Discord uses servers that others entirely control.
I can relate to the feeling 100%. I wish I could host a Discord server on one of my VPSes through you guys. This isn't a replacement for IRC or anything like that, just an additional medium.
- Discord is still quite new and losing money, with a business model that is very much in flux. I'm not sure where they'll go with it. Skype is an example of the direction they could take (selling the company or adding plenty of advertisements), but they could also start going other ways, such as monetizing data mined from user chats. I hesitate to encourage the use of something that could be changing significantly in negative ways.
That would be very unfortunate, I hope that doesn't happen. :P If they do something like that you could always archive the Discord and refer people back to other mediums of communication (like here or via support).
- Staff here shouldn't be chatting with customers by voice :). Voice-based communication is really inefficient in general.
I was picturing a text-only Discord server, you can delete voice channels and make it text-only. Nobody has to do any voice chatting if they don't want to either. :P

It will indeed be interesting to see where Discord ends up a few years from now, I agree.

I guess I was picturing something a little more simple? I'm not sure. Just wanted to bring it up and hear if / what you thought about it!
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Edge100x
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Re: NFOServers Discord server

Post by Edge100x »

Certainly it's something we'll continue to consider. If there is a large demand for it, it may make sense to do it, despite the potential negatives.
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Re: NFOServers Discord server

Post by Biggins »

Discord is getting annoying, for me at least. So I'm fine without it. It is getting pretty popular and it's hard to ignore it though. It's a tough choice for you guys.
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Re: NFOServers Discord server

Post by DraB »

I think this would be an awesome decision. Would make communication that much better and I think it would boost popularity and sales.
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Re: NFOServers Discord server

Post by MasterSeal »

Believe it or not, in many popular gaming circles, Discord is what so many gamers actually feel towards a product that you have ZERO control over from an administration standpoint.
I agree with Edge about how it's nice to use your own bandwidth, or as in my case, using TS3, which offers superior voice codecs, as well as even more superior control and I host it on an NFO Provided VPS.

Discord is definitely plagued by the same types of trolls and annoying pests that FTP (Free to play) games have and this is something that makes Discord very irritating from a user standpoint. When you don't need money, a credit card or any age verification to use an internet based VOIP you get the worst of the lot, IE ANYONE and EVERYONE, regardless of age and behavior. Again to NOT have control over this from an administration standpoint for me is a deal breaker.

There are just so many reasons IRC and TS3 and even Ventrilo will ALWAYS be superior for gaming communication IMO.

There's my 2 cents that no one asked for:) cheers!
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Re: NFOServers Discord server

Post by Naleksuh »

My take on it is basically this:
* NFos infrastructure has always been zero dependencies. Discord is a proprietary chat app that is controlled by them.
* Chat apps come and go all the time. Perhaps the new biggest thing will be some new chat app in two years from now. For a company that was founded in 2001, something long-term is a good idea.
* Sometimes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. There's really nothing wrong with IRC other than every now and then I need to send an image, but that isn't a huge inconvenience. Other than that I've had zero problems with it. I wouldn't say that just some images every now and then makes it a problem.
* Discord has been involved in a number of controversies, problems, and moral questionability such as explicitly stating that they allow cub porn and other extremely questionable stuff. While the platform may be a staple for some, I would not recommend new people to start using Discord.
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