Discord decided to relax its streaming limits amidst the global coronavirus outbreak.
In a way, the platform wants to help people continue with their everyday lives by temporarily increasing the limit on its Go Live service up to 50 people at a time.
In a recent post titled “Helping out where we can”, the platform recognized that some people (either affected by the outbreak in a direct or indirect manner) use Discord as a means to:
“Keep in touch and stay on track with their everyday lives, from attending classes remotely to working from home.”
Thus prompting the developers to find a way to help the community in a time like this.
The Go Live feature usually supports up to 10 users only.
The feature is designed to allow gamers stream directly to other people along with the video chat and screen share options.
However, Discord notes that the feature is now used in a variety of ways outside of gaming.
The private screen sharing sessions are also now being used by those who are working remotely, taking classes, or socializing with their friends online.
The developers also talked about the new update on the platform’s official Twitter account:
“We know a lot of you around the world are currently using Discord to keep in touch and perform daily tasks from keeping up with classes to working from home. We want to help make your world a little less stressful.”
Discord’s Go Live streaming feature has been met with lots of praise by its users. It’s considerably a convenient way to share a game and start a conversation, which is distinctly different from putting on a live show on platforms like Twitch or Mixer.
If you’re in a voice channel and currently running a game, you can simply clikc the button (Go Live) to start streaming the game to anyone else in the voice channel who are interested to watch.
It has also been proven useful in a time of lockdown and quarantines across the globe.
Discord hasn’t specified how long the expanded limit will take place for, but the company expects a surge in demand for the Go Live service.
They also call on the patience of their users whenever technical or performance issues arise.
“Please have patience with us as performance issues may arise in streams with a large number of people.”
Discord users across the globe were quick to applaud the platform for its initiative to make remote and online connection a whole lot easier:
“In light of all the shutdowns and cancellations its refreshing to see a company find a way to instead give back more.”
“Good guy Discord <3”
“getting my prof to stream classes!”
“That is incredibly useful Discord Team. Serious respect *fist bump*”
“That’s why you’re better than Skype. That’s why all gaming fans are using. That’s why you’re the best!”
