Discord is a popular platform for fan groups and gamers to get together. Much like AOL back in the day, it’s a chatroom with flare. More of a lounge than a room. You can game with friends, chat via video or audio, stream games, and customize your servers. But lately the popular chat program has been looking a bit worse in the eyes of its users. Previously, the program came under fire for wanting to employ the use of NFTs. With a high percentage of artists using the platform, many went on a nitro strike against the policy. Many cancelled their nitro subscriptions and refused to return to it until Discord nixed the NFT idea. But this current change is one Discord is refusing to change and many thing is an even dumber idea than digital tokens. Forcing users to change their usernames to something wholly unique.
Discord recently announced that they would be changing the way usernames work. All users create a username that is accented by four numbers at the end. This is a sort of tag for your username, allowing people to find you more easily, especially if you share the same name as someone else. It also allowed for the changing of one’s username as they saw fit without worrying that another user had it. But now Discord is removing the number tag and forcing its users to create new usernames for themselves that cannot be the same as someone else’s, which is creating a lot of frustration.
Username Fights A Worry
Many users of the platform have names that they feel are an essential extension of their personality. And there’s a lot of frustration over being forced to change their names. Inevitably, names will end up with a string of numbers or underscores at the end in order to have the username they want if it’s already taken. And there’s further worry from users that threats and black markets over specific names will erupt in the wake of this move. Discord co-founder and chief tech officer Stanislav Vishnevskiy says this decision is final and will not be changed.
Apparently it will be rolled out slowly, with nitro and premium users getting first notification of making a new username. But that’s also exclusionary to its large user base. If that’s the case, there are going to be a ton of unhappy users unable to pick names they’ve had for years, or even ever since they started using Discord. What this means for the chat program is a bit up in the air. People who use Discord are used enough to it that leaving might be difficult to do, but it’s entirely possible the platform will see a steep drop in users given that Discord isn’t letting them be who they are simply because they might share the same name as another user.
The thought is that Discord is attempting to attract a larger user base, appealing to younger users who might find the number tag confusing. But many are arguing why the platform sees fit to fix something that isn’t broken. Users have done fine with the current systems in place, and it’s worked. Why this is being implemented now seems like a huge step backwards, and not forwards like the founders seem to think. In a cultural climate where self-expression is paramount to many, it’s a stupid move. It won’t surprise us if Discord experiences a steady trickle of account deletions after this.
