Key Takeaways
- Seamless Communication: Mainframe Industries used the Discord Social SDK to bring text chat, friends lists, and high-quality in-game voice chat into Pax Dei—an ambitious MMO in Early Access—without building a new system from scratch.
- Increased Playtime for Linked Players: Players who voluntarily linked their Discord and Pax Dei accounts logged 39% more Gameplay Days than non-linked players*, demonstrating that account linking drives a highly engaged, high-value user segment.
- Engagement Booster: The SDK integration led to an estimated 19% overall increase in Gameplay Days across the entire player base*.
- Enhanced Friend Discovery: The integration of the Unified Friends List and Rich Presence features of the Discord Social SDK allowed Mainframe to streamline friend discovery and joining sessions, making it easier to connect with the existing community both inside and outside the game.
A New Frontier for Community-Driven Games
Mainframe Industries, founded by veterans of social MMOs like Habbo Hotel and Eve Online, set out to create something new with Pax Dei: a social sandbox MMO that places players in a realistic medieval fantasy world where they collaborate to build towns, craft, explore, and survive together. To fully bring that vision to life, the team needed communication that was reliable, seamless, and built into the experience.
The Challenge
For a game where player collaboration is paramount, the team knew that building a reliable, high-quality voice and text chat from scratch would be a massive engineering effort. The team’s focus was on making the game great, not creating a communications platform. They needed voice and text that simply worked—reliable, seamless, and built into the experience—without the burden of building it themselves.
The Solution: Powering the Communication Stack with the Discord Social SDK
Mainframe Industries integrated the Discord Social SDK directly into Pax Dei, using Discord’s voice and social features to power their in-game communication stack. Players could chat through high-fidelity voice or text—whether in DMs, group chat, clan chat, or local chat—without leaving the game. This meant players could seamlessly communicate with their party, guild, or even friends on Discord who weren't currently logged into Pax Dei.
The flexibility of the Discord Social SDK was key. It gave developers control over in-game voice and text channels, enabling custom channels for specific groups or activities, such as raiding parties or collaborative building projects. This provided players with a private and dedicated space to communicate, fostering stronger team cohesion and more immersive gameplay. The result was a state-of-the-art social experience where players could easily find and connect with their friends.
The Results: Deeper Engagement, Stronger Community
During Pax Dei’s Early Access release, Mainframe Industries saw a clear impact on key metrics:
- Overall Playtime: Gameplay Days increased by 19% across the player base*, underscoring the SDK’s role as a core social utility.
- Linked Players: Players who connected their Discord and Pax Dei accounts logged 39% more Gameplay Days than non-linked players*, showing stronger loyalty and commitment.
In-game chat and voice are now used daily—especially by Clans—to coordinate and stay connected, even when members aren’t logged in. For an MMO, social cohesion is critical, and the integration with Discord has been central to maintaining it.
Ready to Build Your Community?
Explore the possibilities and give your players the tools they need to connect, collaborate, and build amazing things together.
Just like Mainframe Industries, you can build a robust, socially driven game by integrating the Discord Social SDK early in your development cycle. The SDK not only enables seamless player communication, but also drives engagement and retention.
Start building with the Discord Social SDK today.
*Discord Internal Data, July 2025
