In a few weeks, Discord Quests will Twitch drop-ify your DMs and servers and give you rewards for streaming games to your friends.
In a blog post, Discord says the new feature is the platform's solution for developers struggling to "break through and bring their ideas to life as a successful business." Now, just like your favorite streamers, you can join a street team for various games and get a paycheck made out of exclusive skins and other cosmetics.
The post doesn't mention what games will have quests, but says developers and publishers who partner with Discord will now have the tools to make them. Quests "will show up tastefully" in the app for "some players" and alert their friends when they accept it. Then you'll need to find a server that won't ban you for self promotion or a friend who can tolerate watching you play a game long enough for you to get a skin.
Last year, Epic gave Discord users a Star Wars-themed weapon skin when they streamed Fortnite for at least 15 minutes. Apparently, "millions" of Discord users opted into the experiment, which led Discord to open it up to more developers.
I'm having a hard time reconciling Discord's stated goal to help people "deepen their friendships by playing games" with a feature that incentivizes you to convince your friends to help you earn a Fortnite skin. Screen sharing games is one of the last ad-free pastimes we can enjoy with friends online and now we have to deal with the threat of that time becoming transactional. I can already see the server channels full of people begging someone to help them finish their quests.
Apparently, nothing is free from being monetized in Discord now. In the same post, Discord said it'll work with developers to create profile effects and avatar decorations in the shop, too. While I understand the appeal of showing off your favorite game or character in your bio, paying for a flashy icon straight from the source is way less cool than having an artist you like do it. Forum signatures were cool because other people made them, not because they were $6.99 in the shop.
Ready your privacy settings because Discord says both quests and new shop items will start showing up in a few weeks.
