Discord for CTFers

As most of us know, almost every CTFer who matters has skype and will most likely stick to skype forever. Even so, I wanted to take the time out to give you guys some sort of incentive to at least try Discord.

This isn't meant to be advertising, but rather an objective analysis on two different methods of communication that are granted.

To start off, Discord is a voice and text chat client/browser in which players can freely use to make their own special discord chats to mess around in and play vidya games. Think of it as a mesh between TS and Skype.

The Pros:

• Discord has a client, but you do not need to download it. You can use Discord on your internet Browser.
• There is no need to have a host, as Discord is based in servers
• Discord Groups can have multiple Voice AND Text Chat rooms:
• 
• Discord rooms can be permission locked by players
• You can ban people from Discord groups
• You can Invite people to Discord groups w/ a simple Link
• Its far less intense on a computer, so low end players benefit
• Only people with certain permissions can invite people
• Discord has a Mobile version that isnt garbage and doesnt crash your phone.

The Cons:

• Servers are based in a region that you set, so there may be issues for those far from the server, but this is also an issue w/ Skype and TS.
• Discord is still relatively new, so bugs and kinks can occur
• Discord doesn't have Video/Screen Sharing
• because you need some permissions to invite, you would need somebody with those permissions

Practicality vs Skype:

• Many teams utilize multiple skype chats for different needs such as Merc/Announcement/Team chat. This can be easily done in Discord. Instead of having 3 different chats for one team, a team can use one Discord group with a Announcements chat where only representatives can talk, a voice chat that has both mercs and team members, and a chat that allows only team members.
• Those not allowed to talk to strangers on the internet can easily X out of the browser based Discord chat if almost caught.
• You can set alerts off, and you dont have to be in any voice chat to talk in a text chat
• You can just have different voice chats for people playing different games to avoid hectic call sizes

"But my friends are all on skype!"
Discord will be small at first, thats a given. People didnt just begin to drive cars immediately. I can understand some of Skypes merits but at the same time we shouldn't let that hinder more advanced technology. The more people who attempt to try out discord means the more friends you have on Discord, if your team has a Discord chat and you use it semi-frequently it surely will pickup some steam. If your computer can handle Skype, it can most likely handle Discord and could probably handle both.

I challenge your teams to make a Discord group to start off with and use it for matches/whatever, if multiple teams try it out at first then you can make a centralized CTF Discord chat. If CTF gets a centralized Discord Group it'd mean more people would have a reason to join, even if teamless.

In the end I cant really force you, TeamTeamTeam has been using discord for a bit and it's going well. If you want to give it a try with your friends/team then you can use the Browser or Download it.

To avoid looking like an advertisement, I wont provide links to Discord.

I can google it for you though.

I can google Discord's Client for you
I can also google Discord's Browser for you
(Credit to Wes, an old CTFer who found the Gayve Discord)

 

They mirrored Slacks style for the most part

 

Messing with it for 5 minutes shows you how simple Discord is.

 

A Discord Chat is being worked on right now, if you would like to join PM me or Winter