I don’t really like discord, but my gaming group have been using it for rpg stuff. Chat channels, video calls and easy to setup bots have all been really useful.

But I get the feeling the enshitification is going to get worse, so I was looking for somewhere else to migrate to. The video stuff isn’t as important, we could switch easily to other services. But before I start a new campaign, and spend time setting up bots with routines for rolling dice and calculating tables, I’d like to do it somewhere that isn’t in talks for an IPO.

I’m not really up on stuff like this, so I don’t know if there’s some obvious similar choices or an alternative medium that I haven’t considered.

  • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
    211·
    2 months ago

    I wrote a somewhat lengthy “Introduction to Matrix/Element” comment for someone here recently. If you arent paranoid, then you can ignore the sections about not using and removing the web client session after account creation. Let me know if you have any trouble.

    The comment in question: https://discuss.tchncs.de/comment/16768943

    To use element like discord (with servers and voice channels) you will create a Space(=discord-server) and then add Rooms(=discord-channels) to it.

    Normal rooms are usually text only but you can still start a video call (doesnt have video on by default) inside one which all room members will get notified for.

    To get something like voice channels you create a “video room” which people can then join and it acts like a voice channel that also has screen sharing and video functionality.

    There is full permission management so you can give everyone in the space access to all rooms or use levels like guest/member/moderator/admin/owner etc or you make it invite only. Lots of options.

    • Count042@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      This is the right answer.

      I’ve adminned both, and XMPP is ridiculously performant. Matrix made a mistake making the room the atomic unit.

  • mlflexer@lemm.eeEnglish
    91·
    2 months ago

    Matrix? I think you can setup text channels and also do voice/video/screen sharing in the channels as well if you’re using element, though I havn’t been able to convince my friends to jump ship yet, so don’t know how it compares to discord

  • other_cat@lemmy.zipEnglish
    7·
    2 months ago

    You know, I’m gonna be the oddball suggestion here.

    Forums. What forums? I don’t know, the last time I used them was proboards back in 2010 so I’m sure I’m out of the loop on the options, but I do miss forums sometimes. That was where I ran RPGs, back in the day.

    • Acamon@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      2 months ago

      We are considering a seperate play by post game using some of the forums and sites set up for that. But having a voice and video chat with friends, with easy options for adding dice and game management bots is appealing.

      • other_cat@lemmy.zipEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        Yeah, I hear you. And even if you post at lightning speed, there’s something about forums that just feels slower compared to the speed posting in a chatroom can get you.

  • tatann@lemm.ee
    81·
    2 months ago

    I think Element/Matrix could do the trick

    At least that’s what I intend to do with some friends for our gaming sessions and daily mindless chat

  • Rappe@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    51·
    2 months ago

    I mean, our friend group still uses IRC. Go back to the roots, discord is merely a fancy IRC anyway. Quakenet is still up and running, working as smoothly as ever! (So at least one netsplit* a day… :D)

      • Acamon@lemmy.worldOP
        1·
        2 months ago

        I bought foundry but never had time to get the hang of it, and in the end we preferred minimal vtt, just chat and a dice / auto bot. But maybe some day I’ll get into it! Defintely vastly better than roll20

  • lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    Since you mention stuff like “the video isn’t important”, “other services” (plural), I’d consider not just one alternative but several. The big problem with big name social media is that they provide a all-in-one experience that is designed for profit, and as such looks and acts worse than any of its independent parts (not to mention, the sum is artificially made more addictive to users).

    • For publishing campaign materials itself, all you need is a filehost or filebin - something like pastebin.com but that allows you to upload and organize any kind of files. Any of the offerings in the FOSS market will do, but if you are going to focus on posting quickie (rich¡) text documents that are easy to build and parse I’d suggest a Markdown-based document bin like Hedgedoc.
    • If your campaign is gonna run like a chat, XMPP / Jabber. There’s servers like Prosody or ejabberd that are easy to set up.
    • If your campaign is gonna run in web “play by post” mode, any modern web forum system will do, for example Discourse. Heck, even oldie-style web forums might do, like phpBB.
    • Voice: Jabber has access to audio IIRC. I’ve also heard very good things about Mumble.