Discord (opens in new tab) is making modifications to its usernames that can lastly eradicate the four-digit “discriminators” that make them so unwieldy. It is also including a brand new Show Names choice, so the best way you seem to different Discord customers can keep the identical—or be modified to (nearly) no matter you need.
To be sincere, Discord has at all times been a little bit of a ache within the ass in relation to usernames. From time to time I’ve to supply my Discord consumer information to a recreation writer as a way to participate in a presentation on the platform, and actually each single time I’ve to look it up within the app. I can keep in mind the identify, positive, however the quantity? No probability. Complicating the state of affairs even additional, usernames are case-sensitive, so phibi#8936, as an example, is completely different from PhIBI#8936.
Discord has come to acknowledge that this technique is not perfect. Co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy defined in a weblog submit (opens in new tab) that Discord adopted the present system as a way to be sure that no person ended up locked out of a reputation they wished to make use of, and that the discriminator numbers had been made publicly seen so customers might be certain they had been chatting with the correct particular person after they’re related throughout completely different servers. It labored, however the kludgy strategy created a “technical debt” that began to get significantly out of hand as Discord’s userbase grew.
Vishnevskiy detailed a number of eventualities through which the Discord username system causes complications, however what all of it in the end comes right down to is just that “our present usernames can typically be too sophisticated or obscure for individuals to recollect and share simply.”
And the numbers are stark: Greater than 40% of Discord customers both do not know their discriminator quantity or do not even know what a discriminator is, and worse, almost half of all good friend requests on the platform fail to attach with the correct consumer. That is clearly not nice for a social media platform, however a repair wasn’t straightforward to come back by.
“We determined at one level that a very powerful challenge to resolve was case-sensitivity and particular characters, so there could possibly be just one phibi#8936, as a substitute of permitting permutations like PhIBI#8936, and PHibi#8936,” Vishnevskiy wrote. “Sadly, we discovered that almost one-third of our lively customers can be compelled to alter their identify simply to accommodate this. In the meantime, individuals from areas the place non-alphanumeric characters are widespread in names, akin to Asia, would have problem absolutely representing themselves.”
Including a separate show identify choice to that change was additionally rejected as unworkable, as a result of “we’d have an much more complicated system with each a Show Identify and a username that also included the four-digit discriminator.” So as a substitute, Discord has opted for an easier strategy: Everybody can be given a novel username made up of lowercase characters, numbers, plus interval and underscore—and no discriminator quantity— and a separate, non-unique show identify that may have just about any form of character together with emojis, non-Latin characters, and no matter else suits inside Discord’s neighborhood pointers. Present usernames with the discriminator can even proceed to work, so you do not have to fret about dropping outdated connections.
That is what it would seem like:
The brand new system can be rolled out over the steadiness of the yr, throughout which period all customers can be requested to decide on a brand new username. This can occur “slowly over the course of a number of months,” with precedence based mostly on if you registered for Discord: Those that have been with it the longest can be given the primary probabilities to choose a brand new identify.
“We acknowledge that this can be a huge change,” Vishnevskiy wrote. “There could also be hiccups with this course of, and it could be robust to half methods with that “#0001” that’s meant loads to you over time. We’ll be doing every part we will to handle issues as easily as attainable.”
A selected begin time for the name-change course of hasn’t been introduced, however Discord mentioned in an in depth assist article (opens in new tab) that it’ll start in “the approaching weeks.” Customers can be notified when they’re eligible to alter their username within the Discord app: You will not be compelled to alter it straight away however Discord recommending selecting a brand new identify as quickly as you develop into eligible to take action, “as that’s when you’ll have one of the best probability of getting the username you need.”
