Tunnel Snakes Rule.

TSR Makes the Switch to Discord! | Dates and Other Information

Howdy! If you don't already know I'll fill you in. After some field testing with "Discord," Teamspeak's competitor in gaming-based VOIP, some other members and I fell in love. We've decided to make a full switch from our Teamspeak to our new home in Discord, effective as soon as possible.

    There are a number of reasons we've decided the switch is an important move in the growth of TSR. I'll list a few, but I'd be more than happy to drone for hours with you about why we're doing what we're doing if you'd like more information.

    Discord is easier to access, making it easier to entice people to join the server. Discord requires literally nothing but a web browser to join a server and begin speaking.

    Teamspeak channels are capped at a fixed quality of 12kbps, max. Our new Discord voice channels are defaulted to 64kbps, with some as high as 96kbps. Now that's quality. This causes a noticeable, positive difference in the quality of the voices you hear.

    Currently, administrators and users of TSR use a minimum of 3 programs to communicate with eachother, the main trio being Steam (Instant Messaging and "What is so-and-so play?"), Teamspeak (VOIP), and WhatsApp (Mobile Instant Group Messenger.) This makes it a bit difficult, again for users and administrators alike, to keep things on track and to make plans with all members of our group to have the best experience possible.
    With Discord, partnered with it's extremely similar mobile application, all of these methods of communication can be combined in one. A #general chat can be found on the desktop version of Discord in our server as well as the mobile version, and the best part is, they are the same chat, enabling people on desktop to communicate with people on their mobile devices quickly and easily. VOIP channels can also be joined from mobile, as some of you have already experienced.
    Discord also offers a running list of all members of the server (both online AND offline) that allows you to send instant messages to anyone you want, no friend requests or name searching required. Discord truely offers us a central platform for communication, and that's really important for a group like our own.

    Discord allows us to do a few more important things in the server. For instance, should you leave your PC for any reason and forget to disconnect from Discord, you are automatically moved to the AFK channel and muted after 15 minutes of inactivity. We have also set up our very own Mr. Handy bot, who plays music in the lobby and is equipped with some administrative features, like anti-spam.
    Discord is absolutely FREE. Damn! This means we can stop taking donations to pay for our Teamspeak server, and although those were never a requirement of TSR, it's nice to know that we're dealing with a free platform for everyone involved.
    In addition to all that, Discord allows you to customize the way you use your VOIP, with light/dark themes, linking your other media (steam, youtube, battlenet, LoL, Twitch, etc.), and setting a custom user avatar just like in Teamspeak, that appears when you speak or type.

    We really hope you'll be making the switch with us. Another announcement will be sent shortly with some information on how to join our new Discord Server.

***IMPORTANT***

The current Teamspeak server will be shutting down on March 3rd, 2017.


Thanks,
-Betcha