Discord vs. steam – voice chat quality

The video quality on the discord is way better than stream. The app allows for voice chats and joining into group threads something that lacks in stream. However, it is not the right platform when doing group video chats, something that zoom has an edge over.

In 2015, something entered the gaming market that drastically changed how gamers communicate. Discord grew so fast within the gaming community to now where it boasts of over 250 million active users. Stream on realizing that their market was being interrupted by Discord, did a complete overhaul of their chat systems and this created a more robust chat feature that is rich in media chats and offers better lists for managing your friends.

Which to use for gaming

Discord is one of the most popular chatting services available to gamers. You can use the app for both desktop and mobile. Discord allows you to chat with likeminded people from their communities. Some people call this communities servers but the idea is that the group has shared interests. The app is free and allows you to access text, voice and video chats. If you are looking for higher quality video, downloadable games, larger upload limits then you may need to upgrade to their Discord Nitto for a fee. You can download discord for iOS and Android.

When Discord was launched into the gaming market, many gamers moved to the platform due to their video chat functionality. This forced Stream to re-organize their chat feature. The Stream chat was launched in 2018 as a spin-off from Stream and this allowed gamers to better interact with each other.

The Stream chat is quite different from the desktop version as it includes additional features like two factor authentication, and allows you to enjoy the full stream experience. The apps are both available for iOS and Android.

How do the two compare?

Design and interface

Stream is not feature rich like Discord and this contributes to its cleaner user interface. For the Stream chat, you have three main sections – chats, friends, and groups.If you have many friends or groups you can customize the app so that you add particular friends into friends or pre-defined categories. This is to help you with navigation and ease of access of a chat. Though the design for Discord is simplistic it will take you some time to understand it. On the left panel you can switch in between groups and move between voice channels and texts. The customization options on Discord are better than those on Switch as they allow you to change themes, add discord bots to organize a server, adjust font scaling and so much more.

Chat feature

This is the main component for both apps. With Stream you will find a host of in-built custom emojis, you can also turn the stream trading cards into emojis. From your phone’s keyboard you can also select Unicode emojis. Besides this, the emoji feature is quite limited for stream unlike discord. Here you can select Unicode emojis from within the client. You can also check which emojis the server admin has added and use them for your messages. Those who have subscribed to Discord Nitto have more options as they can use emojis from other servers in which they are members. On both apps you can add images, GIFs, and videos from your phone or paste links so that they can be embedded on the chat.

Video chat

The role video chats play in the world of gaming cannot be underestimated. This has today become of the key features gamers will be on the lookout for when choosing a video chat service. Discord supports both voice and video one to one calls and group chats. The process of initiating the chats is simple while the quality of the video chats is good. In a voice call the your voice will automatically start being transmitted whenever it is detected or via a push to talk. This is an awesome feature as you to do not need to leave what you are doing to activate it. You can even continue browsing other apps and launching them as you talk without interrupting the voice calls. The stream chat offers you none of the features of the Discord video chat. You only get voice calls on the desktop version so if you are using the mobile version, you will be sent a message saying that you have a voice call chat. However, you cannot join it. This is quite a hindrance considering we are in the world of video chats.

Group management

One of the things that makes Discord quite preferred by gamers is their group management feature. You can easily move in between groups and then immediately jump into voice channels and texts within them. You can create your own group and add other friends into your existing groups. You can also send a time sensitive link to others so as to invite them to your groups. Once you have created your own group you can act as admin and set user roles, control moderation, add emojis and channels. Your options are quite diverse. Stream offers you chats and groups. You can use chats to speak to specific people on a one to one basis while using groups for multiple friends. You can create your own chats and groups and add other members there but the functionalities are a bit limited. The biggest limitation for gamers is that stream does not allow public groups.

Conclusion

Both apps offer decent chat features that allow members to interact with each other, However, for gamers Discord has a more robust video chat system that allows the creation of public groups and management of the same. For gamers this is a great feature as it allows them to interact as a community.

FAQ

Which has the better chat feature – Discord or Stream?

Both chats are decent however, Discord allows you to get into various groups

Can I do video chats with Stream?

The mobile version does not allow this but the desktop one does