Verification Gate
Restrict what new joiners see until they verify their identity. Four levels of friction, configurable per server.
What is this?
The Verification Gate controls what new Discord members can see and do until they prove platform account ownership (Steam, Alderon, or Xbox). Pick a friction level from four options, whitelist the channels every new joiner needs, and the bot handles role assignment and channel overwrites automatically.
Why you might want it
Unverified alts and throwaway accounts are the most common source of ban evasion and grief in game-server communities. The gate trades a small amount of join friction for a meaningful lift in community signal quality. Set it strict for servers where verified identity is required to participate, or soft if verification is just encouraged.
What this is for
A community where unverified accounts are noisy and you want to gate visibility or chat until members prove account ownership. The gate applies channel overwrites and a verified role automatically — no manual role assignment needed.
Before you start
- ·Member Portal is enabled in Settings (Dashboard → Settings Panel → Member Portal).
- ·The bot has Manage Roles and Manage Channels permissions at the server level.
- ·The Arkanis role is above the gate role in the server's role hierarchy (Server Settings → Roles).
- ·You've decided what level of friction is right for your community — see Gate levels below if you're not sure.
5-minute setup
- 1Open Dashboard → Member Portal → Verification Gate.
- 2Pick a gate level. Start with Read-only if you're unsure — it lets members browse your server before committing to verification.
- 3Whitelist the channels every new joiner needs to see: typically welcome, rules, and a verify channel.
- 4Click Apply gate. The bot writes channel overwrites and activates role assignment.
Common failure modes
- Hierarchy error — bot cannot assign the gate role.The bot role is below the gate role in the hierarchy. Move the bot role above it in Server Settings → Roles.
- Missing permissions — gate changes fail silently.The bot needs Manage Roles AND Manage Channels at the server level, not just per-channel.
- Verification DM never arrives.The member has DMs from server members disabled. The verify channel's ephemeral message is the fallback — they can still complete verification there.
The four gate levels
Gate levels control how much access an unverified member has. Choose one per server. You can change it at any time — the bot reconciles overwrites and roles automatically.
Off
No gate. Members get full access immediately on join. Identity verification is optional. Use this if you want the verified role for cosmetic or audit purposes only — it lets you track who has verified without restricting anyone.
Soft nudge
Members get full access on join. The bot DMs them once with the verify link. No channel restrictions, no role gates. Good for communities where verification is recommended but not a condition of participation.
Read-only (default for new guilds)
Members can view the server's channels but cannot send messages until they verify. In the current iteration, the channel-overwrite layer enforces this by hiding non-whitelisted channels — the same mechanism as Hard mode. A future iteration will switch to view-but-not-send overwrites so members can browse before verifying.
Hard
Members only see the whitelisted channels (verify channel, welcome, rules) until they complete verification. Expect 30 to 60 percent friction loss compared to soft modes. Use this when verified identity is a hard requirement — for example, you need a confirmed Steam ID before any participation is allowed.
What "verified" means for your community
You control what counts as verified. Three options are available, set in the Verification Gate panel.
Any one platform (default)
A member counts as verified if they link and verify at least one of your enabled platforms. Works well for multi-platform communities.
All enabled platforms
A member must verify every platform you have enabled in Player Settings. Use this for communities that cross-reference identity across platforms.
Specifically Steam, Alderon, or Xbox
Require one specific platform regardless of what else is enabled. Useful for communities anchored on a single game and platform.
Bypass roles
Any role you add to the bypass list skips the gate entirely for members wearing it. Useful for VIPs, beta testers, and staff who rejoin from a backup account and already have out-of-band verified identity.
Add bypass roles in Dashboard → Member Portal → Verification Gate → Bypass roles. Members with a bypass role are treated as verified by the bot: they receive the verified role on join without going through OAuth and the gate channel overwrites do not apply to them.
Manual verify grants
A manual verify grant lets you mark a specific member as verified without requiring them to complete OAuth. Use it when you have out-of-band proof of identity — for example, a staff member you know personally or a member who verified through a previous external process.
Grant manual verification
Dashboard → Member Portal → Verification Gate → Manual grants→ search for the member → Grant.
Revoke if needed
Find the member in the Manual grants list and click Revoke. The bot removes the verified role and, if the gate is active, re-applies channel overwrites on the member's next activity.
player_identities rows stay empty. Manual verify is a gate bypass, not an identity claim — the member has no linked platform account on record.Previewing what a new joiner sees
Toggle Preview as new joiner on the Verification Gate page to see what an unverified member sees: the DM template, which channels are visible under the current gate level, and which channels are hidden. All preview rendering is read-only — nothing is applied to Discord until you click Apply gate.
Troubleshooting
My members are still seeing hidden channels
A channel has a staff-set overwrite the bot will not touch. Check the “Channels with skipped overwrites” callout on the gate page — the bot reports an external_overwrite_present reason for each skipped channel. Update or remove those overwrites manually, then re-apply the gate.
The bot is not sending the verification DM
The member has DMs from server members disabled. The verify channel ephemeral message is the designed fallback — the member can still complete verification from there. Tell new members to enable “Allow direct messages from server members” in their Discord Privacy settings if they want the DM flow.
The verified role is not being applied after OAuth
Check two things: the bot's role hierarchy (the verified role must sit below the bot's top role), and the Verified-means setting. If it is set to “All platforms” and the member has only linked one, they do not yet qualify. The Member Portal shows the member their current verification status and which platforms they still need to link.
I cannot disable the gate cleanly
Clicking Disable removes the bot's channel overwrites but does not remove the gate role from members already wearing it. Run Run sweep now before disabling if you want to clear the role from everyone first, then disable.