Discord Introduces Unique Usernames, Abandons Four-Digit Code

Discord will let users set unique usernames, so that the use of the four-digit distinguishing code is no longer necessary. Discord chooses this because it says it has become too complicated for users to remember and share their name.

In addition to the fact that users all have to come up with a unique username, case sensitivity is also being abandoned. The new username can only contain lower case letters, numbers and two special characters. In addition, users can enter a screen name, just as is the case with Twitter, for example. The latter need not be unique and follow special rules. Users are always allowed to change their screen name.

‘In the coming weeks’ to get Discord users the option to choose their new username. Users who have been registered the longest will be given the opportunity to change their name first. The transition period lasts several months. The default screen name is the current username, minus the four-digit code at the end. Incidentally, the original username including the four-digit code still counts as an alias. This means that users can still be found by searching for this name.

Discord initially chose to let users use almost any username, regardless of whether it is already in use, because the application was then mainly used for friends to chat with each other in a shared server. When Discord moved away from that, four digits were added to the end of each username, the so-called ‘discriminator’, to distinguish the same names from each other. However, according to the social medium, this made it very difficult to find users. Discord says that nearly half of friend requests fail because the wrong username is entered, and the company wanted to come up with a solution for that.