Discord server for the Fantasy Grounds Community

[XpressO]

Hello XpressO (Wathagan) here!

I will be closing this particular server on Sunday July 2nd!
Head over to the official server (https://discord.gg/VKbhkSt)! See you there!

[XpressO]

Also. I know there is a TeamSpeak server for the community. This could maybe replace the TeamSpeak as it doesn't require anyone to pay for a server or host one in their home. I'm in no way telling you to abandon the things you are grown used to, but merely trying to offer an alternative and powerful central hub for you.

Let me know what you guys/gals think.

[dberkompas]

Just tried out the browser version, and the voice worked great.

Didn't notice any lag between when I stopped talking and others responded.

I'm really hopeful that this will take off, and not only people looking for a game, but us community developers to discuss extensions and such.

You'll see me online at various times throughout the day as BoomerET.



BoomerET

[RKBrumbelow]

I prefer the desktop app tot he web browser version, but I like the idea greatly. Also it seems as though I will be able to use it on my iPad so I can at least text chat and possibly some voice during breaks. Over all it seems to be a great application and I hope it takes off. I will likely be a frequent user.

[XpressO]

We've had quite the turnout already in Discord! I didn't think I'd get anyone interested, but already it has 600% more people than the IRC has had in the last 6 months - in other words 12 people instead of 2. Be brave, wander in, have fun!

[Ruien]

IRC is now down, so until further notice this Discord room is now the core community chat hub. If IRC is going to be unavailable indefinitely, then it would be nice to sticky this thread and update the "Online Chat" link on the homepage to point to this room instead.

[Ken L]

I'd be wary of anything that's hosted 'free' of charge, especially something that requires a server back-end.

[Ruien]

In general, you're absolutely right. I prefer to host everything myself and was ambivalent (at best) about the idea of using Discord.

I thought about it more. In this particular use case, we're looking at fairly loose coupling, so the hosting situation shouldn't be a problem, and Discord offers more relevant functionality than IRC. There are surely better solutions, but they're more work than updating one URL on the front page of a site. At this point I don't see anything more involved than this being immediately realistic; this is fairly good solution, and its available today.

In the long term, the FG team could really, really stand to improve their community infrastructure, and it would start by self-hosting and unifying the community communications channels, forums, and game calendar.

[Gwydion]

Hey there community!

I'm a long time user of the Fantasy Grounds IRC chat (link on front page). A few years back this was a thriving place with many people chatting this and that with like-minded individuals. Since then the IRC has dwindled down to only a few users. Currently, when new people join the chat they think it's an official support channel - which it is not. This combined with the general lack of participation has resulted in an inactive chat room that has failed to gain any momentum within the past 6 months. And this is the same chat room that we're currently promoting on the FG website front page.

Given the current state of the FG IRC community chat and the lack of participation there I've decided to try and bring the community together in a new way. The main reason for this is when new people do check out the IRC chat it seems to them that the community is dead.

Having a functional central hub would be beneficial not only for the community but for FG itself as well.

So. I've decided to set up a Discord server for the community to hang out at. Essentially this is intended to bring the community together at one place, where we can organize games, give unofficial support or just relax and chat about anything. And then, when GM's are actually running games, this central hub doubles as a voice server - so newcomers see that the community is actually active.

IF this kicks off and we get people to frequent it, maybe the CHAT link on the main page of fantasygrounds.com could be changed to point towards the Discord server?

What is Discord?
"All-in-one voice and text chat for gamers that's free, secure, and works on both your desktop and phone." It also works straight on your browser. It has better quality of voice than TeamSpeak or Skype and it has IP and DDoS protection. For more information about Discord, the full feature list and comparison to similar products, check out https://www.discordapp.com (https://www.discordapp.com/)

What's on the server?
There are already several text and voice chat rooms on the server. I have set up three different user groups: Ultimate License holders, Standard License holders and everyone else. When you join the server, tell me which license (if any) you have and I'll assign you the corresponding role. The roles are mainly there to help people recognize who owns what license in case of unlicensed people seeking for Ultimate license holders to run a demo session for them.

It is also easy to set up private Voice/Text channels for YOUR gaming group!

Enter the server by clicking here (https://discord.gg/0bLQlaHmhPa7mrPt).

ONCE AGAIN. Discord is FREE, it's SECURE and you can use it on your browser, on your mobile or by downloading a desktop app.

I hope we have a great turnout! See you there!

EDIT: btw, I'm Wathagan on discord even though I'm XpressO here. ALSO! I am in no way affiliated with Discord - just spreading the word :)

Thanks for starting this server. I just found it and joined yesterday. Starting to spread the word to others. I have enjoyed teamspeak but am starting to move over to discord due to the features, GUI, etc... Planning to run my first game on discord tomorrow night! Fingers crossed as I think I have syrinscape and everything ready to go.

[rob2e]

Thanks for starting this server. I just found it and joined yesterday. Starting to spread the word to others. I have enjoyed teamspeak but am starting to move over to discord due to the features, GUI, etc... Planning to run my first game on discord tomorrow night! Fingers crossed as I think I have syrinscape and everything ready to go.

I was a Teamspeak user myself as when I started with FG I'm not even sure Discord was a thing yet. My initial taste for Discord was not good. The only reason for that was I found it a bit intimidating because I wasn't willing to put in five minutes to see how it works. Teamspeak was easy, you start it, it works. Now, after setting up my own server and having several chat rooms and text room, I find Discord to be amazing!

Glad there is a Fantasy Grounds server now as well.

[Hermundure]

I joined you guys also :-)

[Gwydion]

I joined you guys also :-)

Nice!

[mhorgunn]

Thanks for setting up the server! Just started using discord this week. I'm liking it so far.

[Answulf]

I joined too and it looks like it is growing into a nice little online, real-time community.

So no what? Is your intention for it to just be an area for online social chat, or do you have other plans for it? And how much input do you want from us riff-raff? :)

Edit: I just noticed that the OP - XpressO - who looks like he started this server, hasn't been on Fantasy Grounds in over a year...

[Talyn]

That's why he handed server authority over to someone else a few months ago. :)

[Mad Nomad]

Just bumping this as I have been using FG and Discord for years but never evne know about this. The more people that are on it the more useful it is. I highly prefer it to the Teamspeak server.

[Trenloe]

Just bumping this as I have been using FG and Discord for years but never evne know about this. The more people that are on it the more useful it is. I highly prefer it to the Teamspeak server.
The Official FG discord server is detailed in the sticky thread a few posts above this one: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?36377-New-Official-Discord-Server

So, no need to bump this Discord server - unless you want to use a different one than the official Smiteworks one. ;)

[Talyn]

Yeah, most of us left the old one now that SmiteWorks set up an official one for us.

[XpressO]

Only bumping this up to notify that I am closing this community server because the Official one exists! I will do this on Sunday July 2nd! See you on the Official one! Much love <3

[Trenloe]

Thanks for setting this up XpressO. I think it had a lot to do with the official one being created...