The pandemic has had an effect on everyone’s lives in different ways. For students at IU, it meant finding new ways to stay in touch and maintain social interaction. For some groups, that’s meant starting up a Discord server. 

Discord servers are much different than the Zoom meetings that have become commonplace for meetings these days. They can have the same video chat functions, but there’s more to it, IU junior Marie Bogdanoff says.

 

Discords have audio channels for people to communicate similarly to a phone call, and these channels can accommodate multiple people, be used from a phone, tablet or computer and can be used while users play video games. The audio channels can become voice chats if those participating elect to turn on their cameras. 

Alongside these audio channels are text channels that function as messages boards for those in the Discord. Channels are usually sectioned off by topic, with these topics including a general discussion channel, a channel limited to the discussion of video games, a channel to talk about movies or television shows or simply a channel for humorous content. 

“In a server you can have a bunch of different people and you can have different text channels,” Bogdanoff says. “It kind of evolved from the old Teamspeak servers and there were other, like, forums, but it’s kind of beyond that.”

Bogdanoff’s Discord includes IU senior Sam Frantz, and the two help moderate and run the Discord together. Before lockdowns set in and in-person interaction was still commonplace the group would often gather together to play board games on Friday nights. 

That all changed last March when lockdowns and stay-at-home orders went into effect to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The group’s meetings, which were a source of joy and escape after a long week of work, were abruptly halted. 

Looking for ways to stay in touch, the group started a Discord, frequently playing games while staying at home These games included Garry’s Mod, a game containing multiple smaller game modes within it, Among Us, a highly popular hidden roles game and Minecraft, a popular sandbox type game. The group also downloaded Tabletop Simulator, a game that allows players to simulate in-person play of popular board games

“It’s been kinda fun, cause we usually spend some time like in the evenings and stuff playing games like after doing homework or like during breaks and stuff. We would just game.”

The group also used the server to share notable news stories throughout the year including protests that occurred throughout 2020, the election of now-President Joe Biden, IU’s rules and regulations regarding COVID-19 and the development of vaccines.

All of these activities continue to this day. Bogdanoff and Frantz will often take time after they’ve completed their schoolwork to game together or with other friends.

The group hopes that vaccines will allow them to resume seeing one another in-person in the near future so that they won’t need to use things like Tabletop Simulator to interact. Some games, like Witch Hunt, simply work much better with more people in-person.