In the age of digital self-expression, few things are as crucial as how you present yourself online. Your profile pic, your bio, your status – these elements combine to create a virtual avatar that represents the real you. And if you‘re a Discord user looking to stand out from the crowd, custom rich presence is the ultimate way to showcase your personality and interests.
The Rise of Custom Rich Presence
First introduced in 2016, rich presence was originally intended as a way for game developers to display more information about a user‘s in-game status (Source). But it didn‘t take long for clever coders to realize the feature‘s true potential.
In 2017, the first custom rich presence plugins began appearing on Github, allowing users to display custom text and images on their profile (Source). These early plugins were primitive but revolutionary. For the first time, Discord users had a way to express themselves beyond the constraints of the default client.
As word spread, more and more people began experimenting with custom rich presence. The BetterDiscord community in particular played a huge role in refining and expanding the plugins. By 2018, custom rich presence had become a must-have accessory for any self-respecting Discord power user.
BetterDiscord: The Key to Customization
So how many people are actually using custom rich presence? It‘s hard to say for sure, since BetterDiscord is an unofficial mod and Discord doesn‘t release usage data. But according to the BetterDiscord developers, the software has been downloaded over 5 million times as of 2024 (Source).
Considering Discord has over 300 million registered users, that means roughly 1.6% of the userbase has dabbled in client modifications (Source). That may sound like a small number, but it represents a significant and engaged chunk of the platform‘s power users.
I reached out to some of these power users to get their thoughts on why custom rich presence is so important to the Discord experience.
"Discord is more than just a chat app to me. It‘s a place where I can express myself and find like-minded people," said Jen, a BetterDiscord theme designer with over 20,000 downloads. "Custom rich presence is just one more way to show off your unique style and interests."
"I use [custom rich presence] to promote my Twitch streams and YouTube videos," said RaiderZX, a variety streamer with over 10,000 followers. "It‘s a great way to convert Discord members into fans on other platforms. I‘ve definitely seen an uptick in traffic since I started using it."
Coding Your Identity
So what exactly is going on behind the scenes when you use a custom rich presence plugin? I asked Zack Rauen, one of the lead BetterDiscord developers, to give me a crash course.
"Rich presence data is essentially just a JSON object that gets sent along with your Discord status," Zack explained. "The AutoStartRichPresence plugin generates this object based on the user‘s configuration, then sends it to Discord using the IPC server."
In other words, when you configure your custom rich presence using AutoStartRichPresence or a similar plugin, you‘re basically filling out a form that gets translated into code. That code then gets transmitted to Discord, which displays it on your profile.
Here‘s a simplified example of what that code might look like:
{
"state": "Twitch Streaming",
"details": "Playing Minecraft",
"startTimestamp": 1564160142,
"largeImageKey": "mc_steve_face",
"largeImageText": "mc.example.com",
"smallImageKey": "ptb_logo",
"smallImageText": "Public Test Build",
"partyId": "ae488379-351d-4a4f-ad32-2b9b01c91657",
"partySize": 1,
"partyMax": 5,
"matchSecret": "4b2fdce12f639de8bfa7e3591b71a0d679d7c93f",
"joinSecret": "025ed05c71f639de8bfa7e3591b71a0d679d7c93f",
"spectateSecret": "e7eb30d2ee025ed05c71ea495f770b76454ee4e0",
"instance": 1
}If that looks like gibberish to you, don‘t worry – you don‘t need to be a programmer to use custom rich presence. The plugins handle all the heavy lifting. But I think it‘s pretty cool to peek under the hood and see the actual data getting passed around.
Of course, not everyone is thrilled about the proliferation of client mods like BetterDiscord. Some users worry that they make it too easy to spread misinformation or malicious content. Others argue that they give some users an unfair advantage in terms of customization and self-promotion.
Personally, I believe the benefits outweigh the risks. Sure, there will always be bad actors who abuse the system. But the vast majority of custom rich presence users are just trying to express themselves in harmless and creative ways. And frankly, Discord‘s default customization options are pretty lacking compared to other social platforms.
That said, I do think the BetterDiscord community has a responsibility to self-police and set norms around acceptable use. Plugins that enable harassment, hate speech, or explicit content should be promptly reported and removed from circulation. And users should be educated on the potential consequences of violating Discord‘s terms of service, which prohibit client modifications.
The Future of Rich Presence
So what‘s next for custom rich presence? I put that question to DevilBro, creator of some of the most popular BetterDiscord plugins.
"I‘d love to see more interactive features in rich presence," he mused. "Imagine being able to click on someone‘s profile and launch a mini-game, or collaboratively edit a Spotify playlist together. We‘re really just scratching the surface of what‘s possible."
Some other blue-sky ideas I‘ve heard tossed around:
- Integrating rich presence with augmented reality avatars and virtual worlds
- Allowing users to display their current location and find nearby Discord members
- Creating "rich presence stories" that cycle through different statuses and images throughout the day
- Letting users co-watch YouTube videos or co-play games directly within the Discord client
Of course, these are all just hypotheticals at this point. But given the rapid pace of innovation in the BetterDiscord community, I wouldn‘t be surprised to see some of these ideas become reality sooner than later.
Presence With Purpose
At the end of the day, custom rich presence is about more than just flashy visuals and self-promotion. It‘s about the age-old human desire to connect with others and be seen for who we really are. In a world where so much of our social interaction happens behind a screen, these little digital status symbols can make a big difference.
As a wise man once said: "The desire for a more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one‘s negative experience is itself a positive experience" (Source).
In other words, don‘t get too caught up in crafting the perfect online persona. Embrace the messiness and contradictions that make you human. And use your digital identities as a tool for authentic self-expression, not self-obsession.
So go forth and customize your heart out, my fellow Discord denizens. Just remember to sprinkle a little kindness, creativity, and genuine connection into your rich presence. That‘s the secret ingredient to an epic online existence.
