Discord

While our Spring in-person event is hosted in Kansas City, our Fall online event is hosted via Discord, a free text, audio, and video service. You don't need anything more than the cell phone, tablet, or web browser you're using right now. There's nothing to download or hook up, but a mic and headset would be great. We use a number of online virtual tabletops (VTTs) including Roll20, Foundry, Fantasy Grounds, Tabletop Simulator, and more (game hosts decide). Discord is a web-based service that also has great desktop and mobile apps.

» Learn About Discord

» Join the Discord Server

IMPORTANT: You need to join the Discord server and accept the terms and conditions before any of your event links will work. If you click an event link and you don't see your table, that's why.

No. You can join the Discord server with a standard browser and get a good experience. However, most people use the stand-alone Discord app which can be found at https://discord.com/download

The app offers improved performance for some users. High bandwidth is more important than using the app itself.

While discord can be used on a tablet or modern cell phone, it is generally easier played on a computer. The key factor is a good connection; a strong wi-fi connection should work fine, but as with most internet technologies a wired connection is preferred. While a hotspot or cell phone can and do work, it can be disruptive and disrespectful to other players if the connection is poor. Please test your connection speed beforehand.

The Help List

If at any time, you need assistance in Discord, feel free to ask questions and one of the people in the Help list will help you out. Just right-click the name of someone in the Help List and select Message from the menu. Type your message and they will get in touch as soon as they are available.

Don’t see the Help List? Click on the Member’s List at the top to make the list appear.

Automated Help

To see a list of basic commands just type !help in the Discord message box to get a list of basic commands and !help2 for more complex commands.

Note: If you are a moderator (also known as a “mod”) you can type !helpmod for a list of moderator commands.

To see a list of basic commands just type !help in the Discord message box to get a list of basic commands and !help2 for more complex commands.

Note: If you are a moderator (also known as a “mod”) you can type !helpmod for a list of moderator commands.

If someone is being a jerk, you can ask for help. See below under "How will the Discord server be moderated?"

If you've joined the server via the invite link and only see a few rooms, you need to accept the Terms and Conditions for Discord use by clicking on the "smiley face" in the #welcome-and-rules channel. Once you do this you will be given access to the convention channels.

Note: You can also agree to the terms by typing !agree in the #tech-support room and !revoke if you wish to revoke them.

If you click either the Voice Channel or Text Channel link in TTE (our event system) and it takes you to Discord but not to your table, it's most likely because you haven't actually joined the server. These text links assume you have already joined the server.

To join, just follow the link below, create a Discord account if needed, and then try the Voice Channel or Text Channel link again.

» Join the Discord Server

Note: Once you join the server for the first time you will need to agree to the terms and conditions by clicking the "smiley face" icon in the Welcome channel.

Sponsor, Exhibitors, and Players can activate the Giveaway feature to get visual notifications of active giveaways in the Sponsor and Exhibitor channels on Discord. Simply, type !giveaway and press enter in any channel to activate this feature. If you would like to deactivate the feature, type !getaway and press enter in any channel. 

Sponsors and Exhibitors can announce giveaways after they have activated the !giveaway feature. To announce a giveaway and notify attendees, type @giveaway along with your message and press enter to send it. Giveaway notifications are sent only to attendees who have turned on giveaway notifications. These are announced immediately to all online attendees and queued as a message for offline attendees to see when they return.

Most games are played on a virtual tabletop (VTT), like Roll20, where dice rolling comes as part of the service. However, some people prefer to play a game without the distraction of a VTT and rely on only a dice rolling bot in Discord. Midwest GameFest Online provides three bots that you can use to roll dice: SavageBot, Avrae, and Sidekick. If one of them is down (or you hate the results), you can try the other bots.

The basic command to roll 3 six-sided dice is:

To get more help with SavageBot and Avrae send the bot a message with the line !help. To do this, view the user list, find the bot, right-click it and choose Message.Type !help as the message and send it.

User Behavior

• Midwest GameFest Online Discord server users agree to abide by our policies and terms of service before they can access the channels on the server. If at any time a moderator deems a user in violation of these policies, the moderator is empowered to seek remedy using the tools outlined below (see Tools for Behavior Mitigation, below).
• If someone is being a jerk, Discord users can ask for help. If a quick response doesn't arrive, users can type !report @username Reason (replace username with the username of the problem user, and replace Reason with the actual reason) and all moderators will be notified.
  
  

Moderator Behavior

• Moderators should not abuse their power. Abuse of mod access can result in loss of moderator access and removal from the server.
• When a moderator's shift starts, they should add themselves to the @help role. This will add them to the Help List in Discord's list of server users.
• Moderators should remove themselves from this role when their shift is over.
• Only authorized attendees should be moderators and it is against the terms to pretend to be a moderator. Violators will be removed from the server.

Warn/Kick/Ban Policy

• Under normal circumstances, moderators should warn a user first and let them correct their behavior. Create a paper trail for others to review by putting comments at the end of the line.
  • Example: !warn @username We don’t allow this behavior on the server. Complaining about the judge being unfair Saturday 3 PM  room #ddal-1
• If the warning is ineffective then moderators may kick the offending user.
  • Example: !kick  @username You are being kicked from the server for bad behavior. If you refrain from this in the future you are welcome to return.
• If the offending user returns and continues the behavior the moderator may tempban or ban them. If tempban is used, the moderator must give a time period for how long they are unable to come back.
  • Example: !tempban @username 10m This will prevent the person from joining the server for 10 minutes.
  • Example: !ban @username After repeated warnings, you are no longer allowed to use this server.

Disputes

If two users dispute who is responsible for a problem, moderators may turn on slow mode to calm down the discussion and then examine the logs.

Tools for Behavior Mitigation

• To remove a disruptive user temporarily (though they can come back):
  • !kick @username reason
    
    

• Behavior mitigation features can be used with varying levels of concern:
  • !warn Gives a warning where you can write a note.
  • !mute Prevents someone from talking on a voice channel.
  • !unmute Removes a mute.
  • !kick Ejects the user from the server, but they can rejoin with an invite link.
  • !tempban nn Tries to remove a person from the server for a fixed amount of time.
    • Example: !tempban 30s
    • Example: !tempban 10m
    • Example: !tempban 1h
  • !ban PERMANENTLY tries to remove a person from the server.
  • !unban Removes the ban on a user.
  • !infraction - Lists for you all the issues about that user with notes provided.
• Some other useful commands
  • !slowmode nn Prevents the user from posting quickly for a fixed amount of time.
  • !clear # Clears a specific number of lines

Note: There are various other ways to lock down and disrupt rude people; they are not disclosed here to avoid tipping-off troublemakers.

You need to make sure Discord is set to use the microphone and headphones that you want to use. Sometimes after making these changes you will need to close and relaunch Discord or even restart your computer.

To set your audio options:

1. Make sure mic/headphones are plugged in and not muted.
2. Click the settings icon in Discord.
3. Choose your input and output devices from the lists.
4. Click the Let’s Check button to make sure it works.
5. When done, click the X button or hit Escape (there is no Save button).

Sometimes certain people have low volume. You can increase or decrease volume on a specific person in a Discord audio channel by right-clicking the user’s name and selecting the desired volume level.

If you have issues with Discord crashing, try the steps for your system in our guides below. You can also try the Discord Help Center itself for authoritative help.

On Windows

Fix #1: Disable hardware acceleration

Hardware acceleration is a feature in Discord that tasks the GPU with all the graphics and text rendering, thereby giving you a smoother Discord experience. However, if Discord on your PC keeps crashing with this feature on, you may try to turn it off, to see if it fixes the issue.

1. In Discord, navigate to User Settings and click on it.
   
   
   
   
2. In the left pane, scroll down to Appearance. Then in the right pane, scroll down to Hardware Acceleration and make sure it’s turned off.
   
   
   
   
3. Try streaming games in Discord again and check if the crashing in Discord issue is fixed. If yes, then congrats! If the issue remains, don’t worry – there are two more fixes for you to try.

Fix #2: Delete Discord app data

Deleting the app data will fix the issue if the crashing problem is caused by corrupt files or cache. Here is how to do it:

1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R at the same time, then type %AppData%\ and press Enter.
   
   
   
   
2. In the Discord folder, double click on the Cache folder to open it.
   
   
   
   
3. Inside the Cache folder, press Ctrl and A at the same time to select all the files, then right click and select Delete.
   
   
   
   
4. Go back to the Discord folder, and double click on the Local Storage folder.
   
   
   
   
5. Again, delete all the files from the Local Storage folder.
   
   
   
   
6. Open Discord to see if the crashing issue still occurs. If it doesn’t occur, then you have fixed the issue! If it’s still no joy, please try Fix 3, below.

Fix #3: Install the latest version of Discord

If the above fixes fail to solve the problem, it’s recommended that you clear the old folders of Discord and give it a reinstall. Here are the steps on how to do it:

1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R at the same time, then type %AppData%\ and press Enter.
   
   
   
   
2. Locate the Discord folder, then right-click on it and select delete the delete the whole folder.
   
   
   
   
3. In the address bar, type %LocalAppData% and press Enter.
   
   
   
   
4. Right-click on the Discord folder and delete it.
   
   
   
   
5. Confirm any additional prompts when asked.
   
   
6. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R at the same time, then type appwiz.cpl and press Enter.
   
   
   
   
7. Locate Discord, then right-click on it and click Uninstall.
   
   
   
   
8. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
   
   
9. Download Discord from its official website and install Discord.
   
   
10. Run Discord to see if the crashing issue is fixed.