Discord: What is Streamer mode?

In recent years, Discord became one of the most popular social platforms for the gaming community, so it was a matter of time before this tool began to integrate with other platforms and gaming tools. More recently, it was integrated with streaming services.

Any gamer can become a content creator by broadcasting their game session to other viewers, thereby creating their own small fanbase and community. However, as the transmission population grows, so do relevant safety concerns.

That’s why Discord launched its streaming model, aiming to keep accidental flashes of sensitive data to a minimum. Read this article to learn more about Discord’s Streamer mode.

What is Streamer mode?

When you are broadcasting your video game session, you are projecting the content from your screen to the viewers’ screen. If there is no tool to regulate the content that appears on your fans’ screens, some sensitive data can slip through and cause a lot of problems.

For example, imagine broadcasting a game to hundreds of viewers, when a message notification suddenly appears. Everyone who watches the broadcast will be able to see the content of your message, take a quick screenshot, and abuse the information. Strangers can have access to the names of your real-life friends or family, addresses, phone numbers, etc.

To prevent leakage of personal or confidential data, Streamer mode will hide all this information from its fans.

Also Read: The semaphore time-out period has expired, can you extend it?

What information can Streamer mode hide?

Entering Streamer mode can hide four types of sensitive data: personal information, instant invite links, sounds, and notifications.

1. Hide personal information: This option will prevent others from seeing your email, linked accounts, and discord tags.
2. Hide instant invite links: When you enable this, your viewers will not be able to see the invitation codes displayed in the Invitations tab of the server settings. If any invite code suddenly flashes on your screen, your viewers will only see the ‘Streaming Mode’ instead of the code.
3. Disable sounds: This will disable all sounds coming from the Discord app (combination of channels, notification sounds) and some desktop notification sounds as well.
4. Disable notifications: This option blocks all Discord notifications and desktop notifications from appearing on the viewer’s screen.

How to enable Streamer mode

Activating Streamer mode consists of a few steps. First, you need to integrate Discord with one of your streaming platforms, like Twitch or YouTube. Then you need to enable OBS overlay and finally enable Streamer mode. In the end, you can add some additional third-party apps to help you in your streaming career.

Step 1: Integration

If you haven’t started your Discord streaming career yet, the first thing to do is integrate your streaming platform with this tool. To do this, you need:

1. Click the User Settings menu (gear icon) at the bottom of the window.
2. Press the Connections tab.
3. Go to the server settings.
4. Click on the Integrations menu.
   
5. Choose the platforms you want to sync your Discord account with.
6. Check the ‘Synchronize’ box next to the platform.

Step 2: Enable OBS

The Open Broadcasting Software (OBS) is a free broadcast kit that can be integrated with Discord. Once you set it up, you can easily customize it to connect your Discord chat to streaming, play your Discord voice chat, etc.

To do this, you just need to download and install the application. The OBS will then notify you that you want access to certain aspects of your Discord client. When approved, you can edit the overlay in a way that suits you best.

Alternatively, Discord is also compatible with the Xsplit streaming kit if you prefer it over OBS.

Step 3: Enable Streamer Mode

Once you’ve set up everything you need for streaming, it’s time to lock down all your sensitive data. To enable streamer mode, you must:

1. Go to User Settings.
2. Find the Streamer Mode tab.
3. Check the ‘Enable Streamer Mode’ option in the Streamer Mode section.

If you are using OBS or Xsplit, selecting the ‘Auto On / Off’ option will always activate Streamer mode when these kits start, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting to hide sensitive data or compromising your privacy.

By clicking on the ‘key combination settings’ option, you can configure a designated keyboard key that will automatically activate the Streaming mode.

Optional: third party applications

When you enable Streaming mode, you can add additional third-party applications using the same Integrations menu from the first step.

For example, you may want to add a ‘Nightbot’ to moderate your chat, and it can be synced with the Discord bot that moderates your chat. There’s also the Muxy extension, which is essentially a Twitch extension that connects to your Discord server. You can alert your viewers when you go live, show analytics of your stream, and post subscriber messages to your Discord chat.

Stream securely

Thanks to Discord’s Streamer mode, you can play any game without worrying about your personal data falling into the wrong hands.

The ‘automatically enable’ option will add an extra layer to your security, and the integration with various widgets can help you have a worry-free streaming experience.

Has any confidential information ever been accidentally leaked during a live streaming session? If so, how did you handle it? Share your experience in the comments below.