Discord is one of the most popular instant messaging platforms. The feature that separates Discord from other instant messaging apps is its channels. There are only two limits to channels: how many you can have in a single server (which is 500) and your creativity. You can create channels about everything you can imagine, but they might not be as efficient as a Discord channel.
In this guide, we’re going to share 20 unique Discord channel ideas that you can add to your server.
What are Discord Channels?
There are a few types of Discord channels: text, voice, stage, forums, and more. The most popular channel type is text channels. When you create a group on WhatsApp or Telegram, you’ll have a place to chat, which is basically a text channel. On Discord, however, a server can have up to 500 individual channels inside it so that users can create unique text (or any other type) channels for a wide range of topics.
It’s up to you, the server manager, to decide how many channels you want in your server and their focus. Let’s imagine you’re running a server about tabletop RPGs. First, you have to have a general chat, where people will talk about tabletop RPGs. Let’s add an off-topic channel as well so that people who want to talk about sports have a place to do so. And a few live-game voice channels so your members can get together and run sessions.
20 Discord Channel Ideas
Of course, there isn’t a guideline on what kind of channels you’re going to create – it’s up to your creativity. Still, we’re here to help. Let’s look at 20 channel ideas for your server.
1. General Chat Channel
Finding a general chat channel is almost guaranteed in every single Discord server. This channel is where your members will talk about the main topic of the server and it tends to be the most active channel of all. When you first create a Discord server, it will have a general channel – so it wouldn’t be wrong to say that having a general channel is a rule of thumb. Of course, this doesn’t mean the channel has to be called “general”. If you run a server about Star Wars, you can call it “cantina” – the name of the channel (like all channels) can be thematic.
2. Off-Topic Channel
Just like the general chat channel, the off-topic channel is a super popular channel type. As its name suggests, the off-topic channels focus on everything that’s not the topic of the server. Since Discord servers can host tens of millions of people and everyone has a lot of stuff they can talk about, creating an off-topic channel allows them to chat about everything – a nice boost for your server’s activity.
3. Bot Commands Channel
Bot commands can take up a lot of space on your screen, and interacting with bots might be a bit spammy. No one wants their conversation to be cut off by someone chatting back and forth with a bot. This is why creating a bot-commands channel is important if you have bots on your server.
4. FAQ Channel
When users join your server, there’s a chance they will have questions about it. In order to prevent users from asking questions and having to explain the same thing again and again, you can create a FAQ channel so your users can have the answers to their questions in a dedicated space.
5. Server Map Channel
All Discord servers tend to have more than a couple of channels, and when a user joins your server, it might be a bit hard for them to understand what each channel is for. Creating a server-map channel and listing all channels and their purpose is a great way to onboard members.
6. Role Information Channel
Just like the server-map channel, a role-information channel is a place where you can share information about all the roles on your server. You’re expected to share the purpose of each role here and additionally, you might want to mention how users can obtain the roles and the hierarchy.
7. Rules and Guidelines Channel
The rules and guidelines channel is another channel all servers need to have. Discord is the perfect place to create communities, and they need rules – just like all communities. Creating rules and guidelines for your server is the best way to control how people interact with each other on your server. After creating a rules and guidelines channel for your server, check out our How to Create Your Own Discord Community Guidelines guide to learn more about creating rules.
8. Spoiler Channel
Although it’s possible to mark a text as a spoiler by surrounding it with two vertical bars (||), it still can ruin someone’s fun since all a user has to do to see the text is to click on it. Instead, having a dedicated spoiler channel is a much better option since people will know what to expect when they click on the channel.
9. Announcements Channel
Communities need announcements, and so do Discord servers. When you’re introducing a new role, a staff change, events, or anything else that your users need to hear, you’ll use the announcement channels. Most servers on Discord have announcement channels – their permissions are set up in a way that prevents users from sending messages to them. This is done so that the announcement won’t disappear due to new messages.
10. Reaction Roles Channel
Setting up reaction roles is an amazing way to let your members choose their own roles. Most Discord servers who utilize reaction roles create a dedicated channel for them and name it something along the lines of “choose your own role” or “pick a role”.
Reaction roles are a way to let your members express themselves, and setting them up is quite easy. All you have to do is follow our setting up reaction roles guide.
11. Memes Channel
Memes are great, and everyone loves them – but it can be a bit disturbing if someone starts sending irrelevant memes while you’re trying to have a conversation with your friend. This is why some Discord servers have meme channels. They’re exactly what you expect: a place to send memes.
It’s true that if a person sends a meme, you know they've got more. No one has just a single meme in their gallery. To prevent people from interrupting each other with memes, you can create a dedicated space for them to send the memes in.
12. Introductions Channel
If you want to create a tight-knit community, having an introduction channel is a must. As its name suggests, the introduction channel invites people to share some basic information about themselves with the rest of the server. When someone introduces themselves and shares that they like playing Valorant, other users who also like Valorant will invite them to their lobby – and that’s how friendships form.
13. Suggestion Channel
Creating a special place for your members to share their ideas about the server and vote on them is a great way to make your members feel heard and included. A suggestion channel can be a regular text channel, or you can use bots like Suggestor or Mr Poll to automate the suggestion process.
14. Mod Logs Channel
As a server manager, you should keep up with everything happening on your server, and sometimes, the Audit Log might not be enough. You can create a mod-logs channel and invite bots like MEE6 or Dyno to log everything that’s happening on your server. Depending on the settings you make on the bot, it can post everything from deleted messages to username changes.
15. Support Channel
As its name suggests, the support channel is a place where your members can post their questions. Then, a staff member can answer. This is a great way to onboard new members and make them feel valued on your server.
If a member doesn’t understand what’s going on in your server or has a problem with it that they can’t resolve, they might leave the server. A support channel will prevent this.
16. No Mic Channel
One of the most popular features of Discord is the voice channels. They’re great, but not everyone has a microphone. This is why you can create a no-mic channel to let them communicate with others on a voice channel even without one. This is a great way to keep your server accessible to everyone.
17. Arts Channel
If you've ever been on a community server, you might’ve seen an art channel. It’s a great way for your members to share their artistic practices with others and gather feedback. This channel will also positively impact your server’s activity.
18. Staff Channel
Almost all Discord servers have a team of moderators and admins, and they, too, need a designated place to talk with each other. Instead of deciding if they want to ban a specific user on a public channel, they can talk about it in the staff channel.
The staff channel’s permissions are set up in a way that while regular users can’t see it, moderators and admins can. This channel is where the decisions about the server are discussed.
19. International Channels
While most Discord servers are English-only – some of them are international. If your server caters to an international audience, it’s a great idea to create language-specific channels. Of course, this comes with the requirement of staff members who speak the language so that they can understand what’s going on in the channel and step in if needed.
20. Events Channel
Hosting events is one of the best ways to keep your server active and engaged. But of course, if you’re going to hold events on your server, you have to have a dedicated channel so that you and your members can talk about the event or even host it in the channel.
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