Discord New Usernames
Discord is one of the popular apps that let you communicate through voice and text chat. It has become popular in the gaming community because of its user-friendly interface. The app is now undergoing some changes. It is now requiring users to edit their usernames.
Currently, the app has 150 million monthly active users around the world. The app lets you create and join channels because of shared interests. However, the co-founder said that it is time for the app to evolve to provide users with a more user-friendly interface.
Why the Change?
According to its official statement:
“The whole point of these changes is that we want to make it a lot easier for you and all the new users coming to Discord to connect and hang out with friends. And as Discord’s Co-Founder, I wanted to talk about these changes personally. We know that your username and identity are important, and we understand that some of you may not like this change and disagree with it. We know that this is an issue you feel strongly about.”
In the past, usernames include a hashtag before a name and they have four numbers. However, the new rule is to let people create a unique username after the @ symbol.
When the platform was designed, the co-founder wanted users to utilize whatever username they want without seeing a screen stating that their desired username is taken.
But similar usernames confuse people. More and more people are using it. Thus, it forces the company to consider a new format that will make the process of creating usernames a lot easier to find friends and remember their usernames.
Discord found that most users do not remember their discriminator. Some of them do not even know what a discriminator is. Furthermore, the company realized that half of the friend requests did not go to the correct user.
As a result of its findings, the company now decided to require its users to pick a unique username and a display name, which can be changed at any time. Discord believes that fixing it will make the platform more fun and make the platform an easy place to be with friends.
For now, you can still use your old username. But the company will soon prompt you to pick a new username that meets the new standards. The slow rollout will prioritize users who have been on Discord the longest.
“We recognize that this is a big change. There may be hiccups with this process, and it may be tough to part ways with that “#0001” that’s meant a lot to you over the years. We’ll be doing everything we can to manage things as smoothly as possible.”
Your new Display Name will be your old username by default. However, the name will have no discriminator. In that way, your friends will still recognize you.
Is it a step backward? A lot of users criticize the change. They also question the reasons for it. Some even said that some popular users may face the risk of being impersonated if they do not secure their usernames.
