Popular chat platform Discord is expanding its capabilities to verify a user’s identity so you can be sure that who you are talking to is really who you think it is.
Online safety has always been important, and is more so now than ever as we continue to spend more of our time in digital spaces. Part of that process is knowing who you’re talking to, and with Discord’s new expansion to its Connections system that may have just become easier.
The system works by displaying who you are across various platforms. With the new Linked Roles, users can authenticate their profile with an account that works outside of Discord. Over 20 official connections are rolling out as part of this new functionality.
Verification via connections
These include spaces that cover gaming, social, marketplaces, fitness, finance, and art. Specifically, accounts such as eBay, PayPal, Crunchyroll, Epic Games Store, Twitter, Reddit, Steam, Jefit, DeviantArt, Bloxlink, and various others will be available.
Users will then be able to show off these official connections directly to their profile, including details such as follower count or site activity. Of course, some may not want to have various platforms on show therefore the option to opt-out for privacy concerns is possible.
The Discord statement noted that “These updates will make it even easier for you to build trust in the interactions you’re having so you can feel confident that the person you’re chatting with is the real deal: a DeviantArt artist you’re commissioning, a highly-rated eBay seller, a Redditor in your DMs, your Jefit workout buddy, a legit Dota 2 player verified by Steam, the right Destiny raid group via Charlemagne, your favourite Robloxian verified by Bloxlink, and tons more.”
Thinking ahead
Systems such as this could be incorporated into other aspects of popular gaming culture such as the metaverse. This kind of interoperability could go a long way on platforms that have a core focus on socialising with others. Social spaces such as the metaverse allow us to interact with people from all around the world from behind a screen, and while it would be nice to think that everyone is who they say they are, this unfortunately isn’t always the case.
In recent years the popularity of metaverse titles, especially among the younger generation has boomed. However, so too has the number of cases related to cyberbullying, harassment, and false impersonation. Discord’s new features are there in the hopes of creating a stronger sense of trust between users, something that the metaverse could try to adopt in the future.
While some have already tried to find ways to combat these issues in the metaverse, there’s still work to be done to find a balance between user safety and privacy.
Paige Cook is a writer with a multi-media background. She has experience covering video games and technology and also has freelance experience in video editing, graphic design, and photography. Paige is a massive fan of the movie industry and loves a good TV show, if she is not watching something interesting then she's probably playing video games or buried in a good book. Her latest addiction is virtual photography and currently spends far too much time taking pretty pictures in games rather than actually finishing them.
