I don’t really like discord, but my gaming group have been using it for rpg stuff. Chat channels, video calls and easy to setup bots have all been really useful.
But I get the feeling the enshitification is going to get worse, so I was looking for somewhere else to migrate to. The video stuff isn’t as important, we could switch easily to other services. But before I start a new campaign, and spend time setting up bots with routines for rolling dice and calculating tables, I’d like to do it somewhere that isn’t in talks for an IPO.
I’m not really up on stuff like this, so I don’t know if there’s some obvious similar choices or an alternative medium that I haven’t considered.
I tend to think of Matrix more like WhatsApp instead of Discord. The features of Discord really just aren’t available in Matrix. Which is why I recommend Revolt (or something like it) instead of Matrix when people ask for alternatives to Discord. It does not look or function the same. Yeah, there are some stuff in common, but not enough to be called similar. It feels like comparing Mastodon with Lemmy.