Joining Discord is as easy as using the service on your desktop browser or downloading the free app available for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. Not being tethered to a game console also strengthens Discord's argument for non-gaming uses such as talking to family or classmates.

However, Discord is not locked down to any one system, unlike Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. You can integrate it with your PlayStation or Xbox account, for example. Discord succeeds because it's platform agnostic. There are many ways to communicate while gaming online, but many of them are tied to specific hardware. However, any online community can take advantage of the features Discord offers. At one point, the service gave away free PC games to paid subscribers before realizing it couldn’t beat Steam. Discord lets friends chat via voice, video, or text, and join servers where larger communities gather. With over a quarter of a billion users, Discord is one of the most popular ways that gamers communicate online. And today, Discord is the service that people turn to for online gaming chat. However, conducting epic MMO raids or coordinating shooter tactics with teammates wasn’t possible in the era before online chat. Listening to random, faraway strangers screech obscenities at you can be enough to make you want to burn your gaming headset. Granted, online multiplayer play isn’t always a pleasant experience, especially when it comes to communication. You can enjoy cooperating with, or competing against, people from across the globe.

With online play, you don’t need to seek an arcade's bustling crowds or wrangle friends together for couch gaming. Video games and the internet go together like Doritos and Mountain Dew.

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Discord website on mobile