Discord breaks out and demands users to alter their usernames.
Dunya News
SAN FRANCISCO: Discord, a popular social software among gamers, unintentionally sparked internal conflict by revealing this week that it will need its millions of users to choose new usernames. The issue now is whether the transition will turn into all-out conflict, with participants threatening one another in an effort to control well-known names.
The problem could seem unimportant in comparison to actual problems like mass murders and deadly storms. But for those who depend on the sizable social network to find other gamers, trade virtual weaponry, and plan strategies for multiplayer games, it’s a significant problem. More than 4,000 comments were made on a Reddit thread about the move, the great majority of them being furious or at least dissatisfied.
A spokeswoman for Discord, which claims to have 150 million active users each month, said the company has no plans to revise the new rule.
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH DISCORD USERNAMES?
Users of Discord have always had the freedom to pick whatever name they want, including ones that were already in use. According to a thorough May 3 blog post by Discord co-founder and chief technical officer Stanislav Vishnevskiy, it was part of the company’s mission of allowing users portray themselves freely. The strategy was distinct from social media networks like Twitter, which have long demanded that users choose original names.
To prevent duplicate usernames, Discord gives each username a four-digit, invisible identification number. However, as Discord gained popularity, the San Francisco-based firm made the decision to make its messaging system, which was previously only available for use in shared groups known as “servers,” available across the board. Discord makes the four-digit numbers a visible component of usernames to make it easier for users to discover their friends across servers.
For a while, that too appeared to be effective. However, according to Vishnevskiy’s article, more than 40% of Discord users either can’t recall or are unaware of their four-digit numbers, also known as “tags” or “discriminators” in Discord lingo. According to the executive, about half of all friend requests on Discord are not sent to the intended recipient.
SO WHAT’S CHANGING?
There are two developments happening at once. When users are authorized to choose a new username, Discord will begin contacting them via an in-app message in the upcoming weeks, according to Vishnevskiy. Priority will be given to some server owners, followed by users according to the age of their accounts. Those who pay for a Discord service that, among other things, allows users to customize their discriminators will also have access to “early access,” though neither Vishnevskiy’s article nor Discord’s user manual provide further information.
Discord also gives users the option to use a non-exclusive “display name” of their own. Contrary to the username, this won’t be used for messaging but will be prominently shown on user profiles and in conversation.
According to the Discord announcements, everything will “roll out gradually over the course of several months.”
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
Some gamers take their usernames very seriously, seeing them as distinctive, individual extensions of their identities as well as the foundations of their online personas. Many people don’t like having changes forced upon them. There are a variety of criticisms in the Reddit post, from “don’t fix what isn’t broken” to claims that the modifications are primarily intended to draw in new, frequently younger users who could be turned off by the intricacy of the current system.
According to experts, that might not be too far from the truth. According to Drew Margolin, a communications professor at Cornell University, social media platforms are often utilized strongly by a small group and barely at all by a much broader population. He stated that in a business perspective, “there’s this tension between what would be appealing to a larger market and what are the main users.”
According to experts, that might not be too far from the truth. According to Drew Margolin, a communications professor at Cornell University, social media platforms are often utilized strongly by a small group and barely at all by a much broader population. He stated that in a business perspective, “there’s this tension between what would be appealing to a larger market and what are the main users.”
WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES?
Gamers caution that the action might lead to the emergence of a black market for attractive identities or possibly the escalation of deadly threats to force their submission. These threats can take the form of online harassment campaigns or “swatting,” the extremely risky practice of filing false police complaints in an effort to summon armed law officers to a target’s house.
Swatting can result in harm and even death, often to persons unrelated to the online argument that sparked the action. In 2017, after responding to a fake call claiming a kidnapping and shooting, Wichita police fatally shot an innocent man. A California man named Tyler Barriss made the call, according to investigators, after being persuaded to do so by another player. However, because the location Barriss provided was out of date, authorities were able to locate someone unrelated to the video game or the argument.
Barriss admitted to placing several bogus emergency calls around the United States and was given a 20-year jail term in 2019.
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