[GameSpot] - Discord Is Making Everyone Pick New Usernames This Year

[343iBot]

It's the end of an era for Discord usernames, as the social platform is ditching the four-digit tag that it puts at the end of those handles. As noted by Discord, this change will result in every single one of its users needing to choose a new username, with each unique handle being marked by an "@" symbol, similar to Twitter. Naturally, this is very bad news for anyone named John but good news for the first person to claim "@John" when the changes go live.

"The whole point of these changes is that we want to make it a lot easier for you and all the new users coming to Discord to connect and hang out with friends," Discord co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy wrote in a blog post. "We know that your username and identity are important, and we understand that some of you may not like this change and disagree with it. We also recognize that our current username format has been one of the things that makes Discord unique, and that this change makes our usernames look a lot like those on other platforms. To be blunt, that's kind of the point. These weren't easy decisions, and we didn't come to them lightly."

Vishnevskiy added that current usernames are "often be too complicated or obscure for people to remember" and share easily, while the four digits that came after a name resulted in unexpected limitations. For example, "Mike" is a common online name, which is great for the 9,999 Mikes on Discord already, but meant that the thousands of other Mikes had to settle for a different username.

Users will get to choose a non-unique display name in addition to their unique alphanumeric username, and this tag can include special characters. The rollout will take place over several months, and Vishnevskiy said that the process will be "particularly considerate" of longtime Discord users. Priority will be assigned based on when you registered for Discord, and notifications for the name change will be coming in the next few weeks.

Discord has been in the news recently, and not all of it has been good. While PS5 Discord integration has been well-received, the company also reversed a controversial privacy policy change after it launched its new AI-assisted version of chatbot Clyde. On top of that, classified US military secrets were leaked on a Minecraft Discord server and Nintendo has filed an application to subpoena Discord over leaked images from an unreleased The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom art book.

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