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If you're paying for discord nitro, consider paying for a hosted/managed matrix server instead (matrix.org)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
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To make it clear to those who are misunderstanding: that's a list of companies that host matrix for you. They do it at a good price.

If you and your friends chip, it'll be a few bucks a pop per month to have your own private server with voice chat rooms and video chat rooms.

It's all opensource and contributes to the ecosystem. Best of all, no age verification because the data is yours.

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[–] 5 points 8 months ago (9 children)

Okay, then if it really is not discord, or to be specific, not self-hosted discord (because I don't care about the upfront cost of self-hosting), then I'm gonna start ignoring these matrix posts because they seem to be trying to convince people who want - someone in your link used burgers as a metaphor - A burger to instead get a hot dog.

I don't want a hot dog.

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago (8 children)

    Yeah, they all really do feel like "Oh you want to stop playing World of Warcraft, but still want an online game to play? Try Second Life!" and I think that's partly because there isn't an app out there that feels like Discord besides Discord. Cinny (Matrix), IRC, and Stoat come close, but none support voice calls at this point, at least that I can find. Matrix itself supports calling (though I think that's still experimental), but Cinny doesn't. If it ever ends up supporting voice calls, that will likely end up being the Discord alternative In wouldn't feel bad recommending.

    Until then, though, we don't really have a true Discord alternative. Just various chat apps that don't quite hit the mark.

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  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago (7 children)

    Stoat literally supports voice calls and Matrix has supported 1 on 1 voice calls for a long time and now they are testing group voice chats

    I'm sorry but it will be difficult to deliver something that fits all the checkboxes Discord filled without a lot of money behind it.

    Following the food analogy, you don't want a burger, you want a whole buffet with all the foods discord delivered.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (4 children)

    I haven't actually used Stoat, but they don't have group voice calls listed on their website, so I assumed they weren't there. My mistake on that part, but also they should probably list that on their website. That would probably put Stoat as the most viable alternative, especially if they add federation (especially over XMPP, which it seemed from their website was the most likely they'd go with?)

    Nowhere in my comment did I state that Matrix didn't support voice calls. What was said was this:

    Matrix itself supports calling (though I think that's still experimental), but Cinny doesn't.

    Cinny doesn't. Their UI does not have a call button that I can locate, unless they're hiding it because I'm the only user in the room.

    Fundamentally Stoat is probably the one that's there as a Discord replacement, since it does have calls, and between two different apps you can get a fully functiobal Discord alternative out of Matrix. But you have to use two apps to get it. If Stoat adds XMPP federation I will 100% switch in a heartbeat tho, I've been saying we could have a discord-like XMPP client since I started using XMPP.

    Back on topic, though, the things I want out of a true discord replacement are this:

    • Group voice calls
    • A server system that is separated from DMs/group chats, at least visually
    • Roles within those servers to manage people's access

    That's all. That's all Discord has over literally every other chat app. If something is missing those 3 features, it's not a Discord alternative. It's a chat app, which is fine! But when people say shit like "Signal is a good Discord alternative" it makes me question how they're defining every word in that sentence, because it is 100% on the level of saying Guild War 2 is a good Second Life alternative. And my experience with most of the big "Discord alternatives" is that they aren't. The default Matrix+Element experience is not like Discord. I had to start a whole ass Lemmy thread to be pointed to Cinny, which has 2 of those features! Missing the third. Element has two of those features! Missing the third on mobile. I want a cheeseburger and what's happening is one place will sell me a grilled cheese, and the other is selling me a burger with a slice of cheese on top.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    I already commented elsewhere but I think https://commet.chat/ is the best alternative, it runs on matrix, has voice chat and text. Still needs some work but I think it’s the better part of both worlds

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  • [+] -1 points 8 months ago (1 child)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    They're testing that right now. It's going well.

    I know, I mentioned that.

    A server system that is separated from DMs/group chats, at least visually Spaces.

    On mobile on the element client, absolutely not. The spaces group chats show up in your DMs, and there is not a way to turn that off. Yes I know about other clients existing, there's one where you can turn that off, but it's not even mentioned on the main Matrix website.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    I disagree, it's more like we want a burger, but the only options that are out there are a meat patty here, a bun over there, and one project somewhere claims to have invented cheese and ketchup but can't get them together unless the burger is made of tofu and you have to add them yourself using chopsticks.

    Discord already serves burgers, they are technically poisoned, but they are whole burgers with cheese and ketchup.

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  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago

    I agree to disagree, a burger is a functional food (product) and a lot of the options provided deliver a functional product for what it is designed to do.

    Mumble is great for voice chat, XMPP is great for plain text, etc.

    Discord is a set of products wrapped in a platform. You have chats, voice, video, screensharing, filesharing, threads, bots, etc.

    But since you want the whole buffet you'll need to wait while Stoat and Spacebar finish cooking all the food, they don't have a team of chefs backed by VC money.

    If you don't care for all that just keep using Discord or move to a proprietary buffet like Root until it enshittifies like Discord.

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