The Gamers' Tavern

Hey everyone!

As you may know, Discord recently dropped the age verification bomb (more context here)

Needless to say, we really, really don’t like this. It doesn’t align with our values and interests in keeping users safe, private and secure.

This brings us to our next point.

Finding Discord alternatives

We are looking into several viable Discord alternatives as we write. This isn’t as straightforward as it sounds, as there’s a set bunch of criteria we want potential alternatives to meet. After checking with the community, it's clear we're looking for something that ticks all these boxes:

Key Features

• A fully functional mobile app compatible with both Android and iOS devices
• An open-source (OSS) solution that is well-maintained and stable
• Self-hosting capabilities would be a great bonus

Moderation & Community Tools

• Comprehensive moderation tools to help manage the community effectively
• Staff-accessible controls to prevent and handle any unwanted situations

Additional Features (Nice-to-Haves)

• Optional integration with IRC/Discord platforms
• Flexibility between chat-based or forum-style communication
• Support for voice channels and screen sharing, though these aren't critical requirements given that:
  • Many games already offer in-game voice chat
  • Peertube is available for other multimedia needs

We have a few candidates in mind and are looking into these as a priority.

The candidates

So far these picked up our interest:

• Rocket.chat (text chat, voice “calls”, bridgeable, well maintained, stable, self-hostable, FOSS, mobile)
• Discourse (forum, text chat, ActivityPub-compatible, well maintained, stable, self-hostable, FOSS, mobile, no voice support)

So far we excluded these:

• Zulip (see Rocket.chat)
• Slack (see Rocket.chat)
• Matrix (low maturity and shady dealings from the devs)
• Revolt/Stoat (still no mature moderation tools for self-hosted instances, mobile apps in beta)

So far we're considering with a critical approach these:

• Campfire (no mobile apps, text chat, self-hostable, FOSS)
• Nerimity (text-chat, FOSS, mobile, not mature enough for self-hosting)
• Mumble (fugly text-chat, voice support, FOSS, mobile, self-hostable, well maintained, stable)
• Spacebar (no mobile apps, text chat, self-hostable, FOSS, web client only)

Next steps

We will of course keep you updated every step of the way, and open up the for discussion with you all for if you have any questions, suggestions or ideas. We’re a community, and us staff are very much led by all of you- we won’t make any calls about this without you all, and will keep you updated every step of the way.

The Gamers' Tavern is a cozy place where you can rest and have fun with others gamers. This community main goal is to provide everyone a cozy and safe place to keep in touch and play together.