Could a “Discord-like” client be built on top of Matrix or XMPP, or perhaps even both? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by Teknevra@lemmy.world to c/fediverse@lemmy.ml

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I personally don’t have the technical knowledge, time, or energy to take on something like this — but I was curious:

Since Matrix, XMPP, etc. already support most (if not all) of the features that Discord offers — text, voice, video, threads, bots, roles, federation, etc. — would it theoretically be possible to just replicate Discord’s UI and UX and build it on top of the Matrix or XMPP protocol instead of starting from scratch?

I mean, sure, there’d be some challenges with existing third-party clients, like

Matrix:

Element X,

Nheko,

Cinny,

FluffyChat,

XMPP:

Aparté

AstraChat XMPP Client

aTalk

Beagle IM

Bruno

Chat-O-Matic

Chatty

Conversations

Cheogram Android

but if developers and users agreed to focus on a stack — say, Matrix, XMPP, or both — couldn’t there a “Discord-like” ecosystem of compatible apps and communities?

Basically: could an open-source “Discord alternative” be built using Matrix or XMPP as the backend rather than trying to reinvent the wheel?

What are the technical or social barriers to doing that?

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[-] barryamelton@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

https://stoat.chat/ (previously Revolt, is specifically an open source discord)

[-] joelfromaus@aussie.zone 3 points 1 month ago

Stoat made a small mention in their name change blog that there’s a big update in the pipeline to bring in voice chat and screen sharing, two of the fundamental functions used by every Discord user that I know. If Stoat manages to bring those two features in at a similar parity to Discord then it’ll be a legitimate candidate for a Discord replacement.

Unfortunately, from my research most other platforms either don’t have voice and screen share at all or they do but it’s implemented in a way that’s far from optimal.