20
votes
Favourite Discords?
Do you have any favourites?
How did you find it?
I’m completely out of the loop with discord, I’ve been randomly added to several over the years but it’s things like networking groups rather than anything with a fun and friendly community (of adults) just having a good time together.
I’m trying to find a place that aligns with a creative, game dev, film buff mindset and is fairly active.
Does a place exist?
Others may disagree, but I think you may have more success with a community focused search rather than looking for a discord community.
You'll likely end up on discord either way, since Discord is the chatroom du jour, but it opens you up to communities that may not exist primarily on Discord.
In terms of actually finding community:
I agree. I really struggle to get a sense of community in Discords. Maybe smaller ones work, but there is just so much fleeting information you can't keep up with. Tracking what you have read is also hard.
I've had much more success with Discourse. I'm part of at least two active communities (Language Learning), and I feel like I get to know people a lot better. I think the thread system and non-immediacy makes people write more though out responses, as well.
I've been trying this for years, but it feels like there aren't a great deal of communities who just want to shit-talk online these days. OR, it felt like the old ways were that we all had something in common (tech/beer/motorbikes) and then the community developed around that with other shared hobbies.
Discord fills that gap, but it fills it badly as it all feels like a popularity contest to stay relevant. Rather than a forum that was "Take your time, enjoy the time you're here and then clock off and do something else" (a la Tildes)
I have yet to find a Discord "server" that is actually fun place to be in. I just join some Discords to ask help for things or search for help, which is dumb: The help channels should be a easily searchable forum instead, not just some silo.
I'm currently running through a 5th edition D&D campaign called Odyssey of the Dragonlords.
Straight out of the book it's a fantastic adventure to run (in my opinion the best adventure 5th edition has to offer). However the community has elevated this adventure to incredible levels, created new quests, new storylines, characters who are fleshed out and built on with new scenes to make them feel even more real. Members of the community have created or sourced artwork and battlemaps to make the adventure feel more epic and the community itself is very nice and friendly.
May I have a link?
Sure!
https://discord.gg/PbCWjNun
Thank you!
The Bellingcat Discord has a wealth of information on open/public source journalism in the age of disinformation. Infosec, data science, propaganda and far-right tracing, tools, resources, discussions, lectures, it's all right there, and I recommend it highly.
Yes, there are some good ones out there. I frequent ones for music, such as Orpheus. A small community, but cool if anyone is into music.
Forward Future AI (testing different AI models)
https://discord.gg/pSqfSBaQE3
Dresden Files (book series) community
https://discord.gg/85PnWNpA
The best way I've found to find new Discord communities is to join servers made by influencers in fields you are interested in. For example, for gamedev, Freya Holmér's server is really nice, it's full of very lovely and cool people.
Of course, not every influencer's Discord server is going to have the same level of quality, but I find it's highly correlated with the type of person the influencer is.
My favourite Discord is a hyper-local Seattle swing dance Discord. I love meeting cool people at dances and then being able to invite them on the spot!
When it comes to discord, I think it maintains a different atmosphere than a place like a forum or the way hobby subreddits are/were. Smaller discords help make it feel more like a forum because there isn't always new posts, but treating discord that way sets you up with poor expectations.
I have found that I am on discords that cross over specific hobbies. The primary ones are Tabletop RPGs, and Magic The Gathering. All of them have general talk, memes, etc. but I'm after content and community for those hobbies specifically.
The TTRPG one is for a podcast called "Total Party Thrill" it's a small community of listeners, the hosts and some of their home group are active participants. They have channels for memes and video games and stuff as well.
The MTG discord is kanister_mtg's discord. It is a MTG-focused group that wants to win and find the best plays, but also realizes it's a children's card game and are willing to meme about it. i hang out there even though I dont play as much because i love to talk about cards and interactions, and also keep an eye on the formats I play. The community also is wonderful, and love their shitposts, so i feel like i fit right in. I'm also a sub on twitch, which gives me access on his server for some extras. not required, but a nice perk for supporting the creators i like.