Discord asks users to ponder its Orbs, an earnable currency you can use to buy Nitro

In a bid to expand its advertising business, Discord has invented a new in-app currency to give away in exchange for watching commercials. They're called Orbs, and you can use them to buy cosmetics from Discord's shop.

I've pondered these Orbs myself and find them inoffensive, at least so far. At the outset, Orbs will primarily be a reward for completing "quests," Discord's existing advertising branch that gives away profile decorations in exchange for watching movie trailers or streaming a partnered game. The only Orbs quest I had access to in the Orbs beta involved watching a commercial for Orbs, a circular exercise that ended with 150 big ones (big Orbs, that is) burning a hole in my pocket.

I spent 70 Orbs on an Orbs badge. Then, well, I was too Orbs poor to afford anything else. The prices of "Orbs Exclusives" scaled up faster than I expected: An animated avatar border costs 3,500 Orbs, as does a misty Orbs profile background. More affordable is a 3-day credit for Discord Nitro for 1,400 Orbs.

That's right: You can buy Discord Nitro with Orbs. That caught me by surprise, considering Discord's premium subscription service is the primary way it makes money. It's been a topic of debate among Discord brass as well. In an interview on Orb-ic matters, senior vice president of product Peter Sellis told PC Gamer that offering Nitro for Orbs is about getting the attention of users who have yet to engage with quests or the shop.

"Nitro is the most well-understood, valuable thing on Discord, so we felt like if we were offering virtual rewards and they weren't redeemable for Nitro, we were not giving users what they actually want," Sellis said.

Before you get too excited, it sounds like grinding Orbs quests to achieve true eternal Nitro won't be a viable strategy for now. "We have a lot of control over the Orbs economy right now," Sellis added, and his team will be tuning how many Orbs are up for grabs at any given time as the feature rolls out. Interestingly, existing Nitro subscribers will be able to buy Nitro time via Orbs and credit to their accounts, delaying their next billing cycle.

"I think we can take our time to get it right so that it feels good for the users and they're not grinding at some Sisyphean task of rolling a stone up the hill, but at the same time doesn't threaten our core business of Nitro, which a lot of people pay for and is very valuable."

But Orbs is just as much about courting advertisers as it is giving users free-ish stuff. As Discord's press release on Orbs points out, "Advertisers no longer need to bring their own reward (though our users certainly love that) or worry if the reward will resonate with their target audience," because they can now default to Orbs.

As you might suspect at the introduction of a new currency, Sellis has ambitions for Orbs to someday be worth more than just cosmetics and Nitro. "I think we'll expand the shop to be more broadly applicable to not just cosmetics, but potentially to utility on Discord as well. It's just that cosmetics are the natural place to start for us."

No specifics offered there, but a natural progression for Orbs would be Discord's app store, which currently houses free games and activities for friend groups. Orbs are rolling out today for a "small number of users globally," with wider access coming "soon."