TeamSpeak vs. Discord

[DrFr]

This seems to be the hot topic now, and probably makes more sense to have the discussion ahead of our Oct. clan meeting.

Hazmat has set up a Discord server for us, and many of us have set up accounts there. But we still have the TeamSpeak server (I think it costs us $25 / mo), which is still being actively used.

There is a proposal to adopt Discord as our primary real-time communications channel and drop TeamSeak. This is a good place to discuss the pros and cons. I'll list my thoughts below:

Discord
Pluses:
More options than TeamSpeak
No cost
Uses fewer system resources (more gaming friendly)
I can stream music to fellow Geezers from my 168,000 song iTunes library.

Minuses:
Steeper learning curve
Non-intuitive learning curve

TeamSpeak
Pluses:
Familiar
Easy to use / learn

Minses:
Costs us $25 / month for server rental
Fewer features

While I personally prefer TeamSpeak, even after trying Discord, I'll go along with whatever everyone decides.

[Fireman]

Your pluses and minuses are what I would list also.

Personally, I am really liking Discord. I don't dislike TeamSpeak but I think Discord has more to offer.

Like Roger, I too think we need to get to ONE Comms program. There is a catch in our choice though!
If we choose Discord and no longer have a TeamSpeak server for our clan, then everyone has to move to Discord. BUT.... if we choose to keep TeamSpeak as our Comms program, I feel we will have exactly what we have now... split community as many will use TeamSpeak because it is familiar and others will be using Discord.

To me the choice is obvious if we are serious about all of us using one Comms. program and that choice would have to be Discord.

[Scorpio]

Bottom line for me is I just use (pick one) to play a game. I really don' t give a damn about the bells and whistles. I just want it while in game. I'm not going to login at the end of the day to bs or rant on the day I've had. I love you guys but I don't want to discuss a concert or football game in the middle of my game.
My only concern, which has been voiced earlier, is that nothing is free...maybe now but what are we going to do when they throttle the account, limit the numbers, start to charge fees, run annoying advertising? I know...none of that is happening...now. Just looking ahead.
I'll just say, I prefer TS but that is probably because I am used to it and it seems to my hearing to have better sound quality than Discord.

[Rogerdoger45]

Ok A discussion now when hardly anyone even looks at our forum is just a waste of time this post should be remove. We will vote come OCT and remember it not about cupcakes GzR's, it's about the GzR in a whole and I feel it will keep us commuting even when not gaming so everyone is up to date. if you don't like that you can turn that part off.

Oh yes 7 views on this post I am sure DrFr view it about 4 times Scorpio 2 Fireman 1 Rogerdoger45.. lol

[nervustwitch]

I admit Im not a fan of Discord all that much, mainly I guess Im being lazy about learning it. Played around with it some yesterday and kinda got the hang of it.

But because of the features Discord has most others are using it daily instead of TS, even the PS guys that have been in TS almost daily for the last year +.
They seem to have gravitated to Discord and looks as if Gzr's have followed, kinda have to go to whatever comms others are using if you want to teamplay.

I feel that if we keep TS we will see an even bigger decline in TS over time. Almost every server I use in just about any game uses Discord. Ive even asked why Discord instead of TS, other servers said its free and has better features. Plus with game streaming being so big these days, Discord really caters to the streaming crowd and has made Discord popular.

I've honestly grown quiet tired of the split groups between TS and Discord, we need to do something and I'm one that doesnt like to change, I just want to play.
Ive been bringing up this issue for some time now with Roger and a few others.

My vote is whatever we need to do, we do it to keep everyone together....otherwise we could end up just fading away.

And whatcha talkin bout Roger. This will have over 100 views by the end of today, the forums are "extremely popular".

[Rogerdoger45]

[Fireman]

You are right Roger about not many seeing this discussion on the forum................. BUT........... it sure gives us the opportunity to pick out good bullet points during the next meeting from those that do read here and throw in their thoughts on the matter.

[DrFr]

My only other thought is that Discord's business model seems whackadoodle, and we may well be having the same conversation in a couple years. I mean, you can't run on angel investments forever - at some point your stockholders want to see an income stream. Nothing's free - and they say they don't want to charge for hosting OR sell our info to advertisers????

Microtransactions and optional upgrades ain't going to pay the bills.

[Rogerdoger45]

I don't know TS was free all it life until 3 came along. I think we need to worry about keeping GzR together then if and when we would have to paid for discord.

[nervustwitch]

Last I read over the summer is that Discord will start selling games, dont know if through discord or other means but something similar to what steam is doing or even TwitchTV.