We’ve been using either Skype or Discord to do our online meetings: http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/online-meetings
But it’s worth asking people: How well are these programs working for you? Does anyone have strong preferences for one or the other, or an entirely different program? When suggesting a different program remember that we have all different operating systems for our members.
2015-08-10 20:50
4 weeks 1 day ago
As far as I’m concerned, I definitely prefer Discord over Skype, but for some people Discord doesn’t work, and it doesn’t have screen sharing.
Skype is a mess. Sometimes it causes trouble for individual members, but most of the time when it causes problems it causes problems for everyone and disrupts the meeting. It’s inconvenient to get access to Skype meetings; you have to register and download Skype and then have to tell a member of the group your Skype account so that you can be added as a contact so that you can be added to the Skype group. Skype only allows up to 25 people to be called into a group meeting, and the group is larger than that, and the group admin is Adanorcil who needless to say is never around. So the fellow making the call, ie. me, has to go through the list and pick the people to call, which is a pain, especially as the Skype names tend to be different from the forum names. In general, Skype requires a lot of busywork.
Even screen sharing, one feature Skype has over Discord, is a pain, as only nine members can be in the call when someone starts sharing their screen. If there are more than nine members, which has happened, some people have to leave the call and then rejoin later when the screen is being shared.
Compared to that, you don’t need to download anything for Discord. You just need to follow the link (and it has to be the right link, to the voice channel), choose a username and you can start posting and talking. It’s far more convenient for new members, and far and away more convenient for me, when it works. Skype is inconvenient even when it’s working.
2015-09-28 20:13
2 years 8 months ago
Look ma, I’m making a table!
That said, I honestly don’t know. Discord works very well, but its better text chat makes it more likely to be used (we could just stay on IRC if we were all typing at each other), and the various and repeating hassles people have with keeping their microphone working make it about as much of a problem as Skype was.
The easier accessibility is a big plus in my opinion (I wasn’t aware of the sordid details, but that sounds pretty terrible). It does seem to consume more bandwith than Skype, which gets a bit irritating at low-speed internet connections (so as much 6MBit/s one) when browser windows with documents or threads open.
2015-07-05 20:55
4 years 3 weeks ago
One thing not mentioned above, the Discord App does not work nicely with Internet Explorer. You can see the text, but you can NOT hear or talk. The app only supports google chrome, firefox or opera.
2015-09-28 20:13
2 years 8 months ago
Incidentally, it would appear that Skype on Linux is being killed by Microsoft slowly.
So scratch “the Discord app has no Linux version” off the malus list and into the neutral one.
2016-10-10 20:36
8 years 2 months ago
Hah, easy.
Discord sucks. Skype does everything it does, only better. Skype is it’s own thing, Discord just copies off Skype, makes the feature worse, and releases it after Skype does. As for the “people can join any call anytime” crap, that is NOT a good thing. Someone uninvited could just barge into the call and overhear you without you knowing. For example, let’s use “Friend 1” “Friend 2” and “Friend 3”. Let’s say Friend 1 & 2 are planning a surprise retirment/birthday/any other party. This would happen:
Friend 1: Alright, I think we’re about done here!
*Friend 3 randomly logs into the call*
Friend 2: Ready to go set up the surprise party for Friend 3?
Then the whole thing is spoiled.
It’s way too messy, with random channels this way and that. It takes too long to load, and don’t get me started on it’s general clutter. It doesn’t work on most browers, including Internet Explorer, and even the download is still different and cluttered. It has REALLY bad voice issues, so the whole “For gamers” thing is a steaming pile of crap. For instance, what if you’re in a game of League of Legends, and the call blips out? Sure, this happends on Skype too, but not nearly as often. Skype also doesn’t have as many voice issues, and the text chat is pretty much evenly matched. Skype also has way more Emojji’s/Movie quotes, which makes it fun to use.
As if this isn’t enough already, say you want to share your screen. Hope you have twitch! And know how to use it! And have an account! And be able to stream! And know how to link it to Discord! On Skype, say you want to share your screen. Hope you know how to click two buttons!
Oh, AND they basically insult Skype and TeamSpeak, ON THEIR FRONT PAGE, and tell people that they’re better. THAT is what pisses me off about them.
Please, never use Discord again, and if you’re thinking of starting to use it, don’t. Skype is here.
Overall, Discord is a cheap over-confident rip-off that should be taken down and forgotten. It literally brings tears to my eyes to see such a rip-off, piece off bullcrap trying to replace Skype. It makes me sick.
-Some Person
2016-10-01 19:13
6 years 5 months ago
@SomePerson:
Oh, please. It might be true that Discord has its issues, but so does Skype. It is the user’s choice, and TR uses what TR wants to use and has good experiences with. Ranting madly about bad experiences or hard competition to your favourite service doesn’t change anything.
The more I venture into the realms of wisdom, the more I realize that all wisdom is nothing but illusionary and theoretical.
So, in order to go completely illiterate and bogus, I need to know more about everything.
2016-09-15 23:12
1 week 1 day ago
Not sure whether Discord vs. Skype is even being debated or anymore or if this thread was simply necro’d.
Discord, in my opinion, is a much better platform for communities and groups than Skype due to its use of persistent chat/voice rooms and the ability to set permissions. I must confess that I never sat in on TR Skype group-calls, but I imagine it must have been somewhat inefficient to allow new visitors to listen in. Looking forward, it sounds like TR wants to better advertise itself to attract more contributors; Discord is much more conducive to that goal than Skype.
@ Some Person: Not trying to change your opinion here, but that bit about “barging into the call” shouldn’t ever happen. Those friends will probably just call each other through the one-on-one call feature that was recently implemented, or, in the case of a larger group or community, they would talk to each other in a more restricted voice channel. Also, Discord channel admins can upload their own emojis now.
2015-12-12 23:47
3 years 4 months ago
It’s been necro’d. We use discord because our meetings are public and we’d like a persistent chatroom. If we want to have private meetings, we use our Secret Hideout of Total Secrecy to avoid being overheard.
That said, both Discord and Skype have their own problems, and neither works all the time for everyone.
Edit: that said, we’ve had a lot less trouble overall with Discord for doing meetings.
Does: concepts, textures, youtube vids, admin stuff e.g. PR, handbook, assets, small website things. Activity level: wildly unpredictable. Still active. Find me on Discord.
2015-09-28 20:13
2 years 8 months ago
Necro aside, the desktop share in the free Skype version is limited to a meeting between 8 people. This was insufficient for our needs the two times it came up, so using Twitch is not actually all that much more of a hazzle. Discord invites are also a whole lot better and easier than the invites to Skype. We have more people active in the Discord meetings than I’ve ever seen in Skype.
The lack of technical issues with Discord as compared to the terrible headache that were the Skype meetings and Discord’s strong text chat make it unlikely that we will move back to Skype unless hefty bribes are involved.
2015-12-12 23:47
3 years 4 months ago
A note: My computer is set up to do twitch. Honestly, if we want to, I can stream art or relevant things while we’re meeting if people want.
The TR twitch is mostly set up, and really just needs me or other people to have time to stream.
Does: concepts, textures, youtube vids, admin stuff e.g. PR, handbook, assets, small website things. Activity level: wildly unpredictable. Still active. Find me on Discord.