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Wait until you see what Discord calls servers internally :) [0] Jokes aside, I don't think there's anything about the term "server" that implies independence.

Wait until you see what Discord calls servers internally :) [0] Jokes aside, I don't think there's anything about the term "server" that implies independence. I can think of many centralized access points that are called "servers" but aren't independent. Hell, even racks aren't necessarily independent. I get what you're saying, but the term "server" can be pretty vaguely applied. 0: https://discordapp.com/developers/docs/resources/guild https://discordapp.com/developers/docs/resources/guild

heymijo 7y ago
> * I don't think there's anything about the term "server" that implies independence.* Communication is perception. Simian above, and myself grew up in an era where a server did indeed imply independence. Counterstrike servers, IRC servers, FTP servers, all independent things in these contexts. For others the perception may be different as I assume it is with anyone young who primarily encounters the word server in their Discord use.
- wgerard 7y ago
  But that's kinda my point: CS servers weren't really independent. If Valve/Steam/VAC/etc. stopped working, CS servers were all down effectively.
  - sho_hn 7y ago
    And yet I'm convinced Discord chose this naming because it implies independence. It sounds a lot cooler to say "We got our own server" than "We started our own guild".
    - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
      Eh, I think they chose it because of the history of Minecraft, CS:GO, WOW, etc servers. Remember that Discord is intended for gaming.
    - tylerl 7y ago
      Discord replaced ventrillo and teamspeak for gaming communities. For those you actually ran a "server". Whether or not the company started out calling these accounts "servers" initially, that customer base sure did. It was the terminology customers were used to. They neither knew nor cared what the technical aspects were of having a separate server; it just what you called that thing that the team used to communicate.
      - sho_hn 7y ago
        > For those you actually ran a "server". Exactly - something difficult to do that not everyone could just do (or rent from a service, or have permanently running). Which is cool. I'm saying this is an important element to Discord's early success precisely because it understood the gamer audience it was engaging, how it communicated and thought and the tools they were using. Discord allowed people who previously couldn't to "have a server". Which lead to a period of everyone "making" one, and then better ones survived. Not the only factor, but it contributed. I clearly remember how proud people were of their "servers". I'm sure they knowingly made use of this fact and picked a term that implied more than it does in technical reality because it had social currency. If you play to an audience, understanding what it values and what generates status within it helps a lot.
    - passthejoe 7y ago
      I never used Discord, and I assumed that a "server" meant a server. Now I'm definitely not interested.
  - lelandbatey 7y ago
    That's only half true. While it's true that the in-game server browser would cease to function, you could absolutely still connect and play with people on independent servers. And this isn't a hypothetical; there were (probably still are) many independent server trackers and aggregators allowing you to find servers without Valve's servers being up. And I know that this all works because I'd host offline LAN parties with friends were we'd run all sorts of offline-compatible games like TF2, CS, Quake, Unreal, Halo, Sourceforts, Gmod, etc.
  - WhyNotHugo 7y ago
    Again, not really what some of us grew up with. Back when I _did_ play CS, servers didn't rely on any online component. Many gaming places had their own local servers, and continued to run just fine when the internet was down.
  - cookiecaper 7y ago
    Counter-Strike predates Steam by at least a few years. There was a time that game servers were fully independent and you could use third-party game browsers or even just go port scanning to find 'em.
  - heymijo 7y ago
    You'll have to forgive me. I keyed in on your line about servers and glossed over your "I get what you're seeing" agreement with OP. The comments this elicited below harkened back to some great memories of spinning up Half Life and then Counterstrike servers in the pre-Steam days. Then even more memories from the Steam/Ventrillo/CS days. Good memories in bad times. Thanks for that and best of luck with midgame!
- xmprt 7y ago
  That's kind of the point. As far as discord users should be concerned, servers are independent which is why the terminology chosen was "servers" which conveys a sense that one server is independent from another. The term doesn't necessarily mean they are on different hardware or physically separated.
- inscionent 7y ago
  Back in the day I ran multiple services on my CounterStrike 'Server'.
gsich 7y ago
Name 5. Yes a "server" especially if you call it "my server" implies some sort of independence.
- lmz 7y ago
  Shared / virtual web hosting, before everyone had their own VMs. Even VMs aren't independent at small enough scale.
- wgerard 7y ago
  > Name 5. WoW, Runescape, CS 1.6/Source, Slack, uh... Tribes? I guess?
  - gsich 7y ago
    CS 1.6/Source/GO has servers you can selfhost. With the rest I haven't heared people saying "my server" in a sense that they own the thing.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

heymijo 7y ago

> * I don't think there's anything about the term "server" that implies independence.* Communication is perception. Simian above, and myself grew up in an era where a server did indeed imply independence. Counterstrike servers, IRC servers, FTP servers, all independent things in these contexts. For others the perception may be different as I assume it is with anyone young who primarily encounters the word server in their Discord use.

wgerard 7y ago
But that's kinda my point: CS servers weren't really independent. If Valve/Steam/VAC/etc. stopped working, CS servers were all down effectively.
- sho_hn 7y ago
  And yet I'm convinced Discord chose this naming because it implies independence. It sounds a lot cooler to say "We got our own server" than "We started our own guild".
  - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
    Eh, I think they chose it because of the history of Minecraft, CS:GO, WOW, etc servers. Remember that Discord is intended for gaming.
  - tylerl 7y ago
    Discord replaced ventrillo and teamspeak for gaming communities. For those you actually ran a "server". Whether or not the company started out calling these accounts "servers" initially, that customer base sure did. It was the terminology customers were used to. They neither knew nor cared what the technical aspects were of having a separate server; it just what you called that thing that the team used to communicate.
    - sho_hn 7y ago
      > For those you actually ran a "server". Exactly - something difficult to do that not everyone could just do (or rent from a service, or have permanently running). Which is cool. I'm saying this is an important element to Discord's early success precisely because it understood the gamer audience it was engaging, how it communicated and thought and the tools they were using. Discord allowed people who previously couldn't to "have a server". Which lead to a period of everyone "making" one, and then better ones survived. Not the only factor, but it contributed. I clearly remember how proud people were of their "servers". I'm sure they knowingly made use of this fact and picked a term that implied more than it does in technical reality because it had social currency. If you play to an audience, understanding what it values and what generates status within it helps a lot.
  - passthejoe 7y ago
    I never used Discord, and I assumed that a "server" meant a server. Now I'm definitely not interested.
- lelandbatey 7y ago
  That's only half true. While it's true that the in-game server browser would cease to function, you could absolutely still connect and play with people on independent servers. And this isn't a hypothetical; there were (probably still are) many independent server trackers and aggregators allowing you to find servers without Valve's servers being up. And I know that this all works because I'd host offline LAN parties with friends were we'd run all sorts of offline-compatible games like TF2, CS, Quake, Unreal, Halo, Sourceforts, Gmod, etc.
- WhyNotHugo 7y ago
  Again, not really what some of us grew up with. Back when I _did_ play CS, servers didn't rely on any online component. Many gaming places had their own local servers, and continued to run just fine when the internet was down.
- cookiecaper 7y ago
  Counter-Strike predates Steam by at least a few years. There was a time that game servers were fully independent and you could use third-party game browsers or even just go port scanning to find 'em.
- heymijo 7y ago
  You'll have to forgive me. I keyed in on your line about servers and glossed over your "I get what you're seeing" agreement with OP. The comments this elicited below harkened back to some great memories of spinning up Half Life and then Counterstrike servers in the pre-Steam days. Then even more memories from the Steam/Ventrillo/CS days. Good memories in bad times. Thanks for that and best of luck with midgame!
xmprt 7y ago
That's kind of the point. As far as discord users should be concerned, servers are independent which is why the terminology chosen was "servers" which conveys a sense that one server is independent from another. The term doesn't necessarily mean they are on different hardware or physically separated.
inscionent 7y ago
Back in the day I ran multiple services on my CounterStrike 'Server'.

gsich 7y ago

Name 5. Yes a "server" especially if you call it "my server" implies some sort of independence.

lmz 7y ago
Shared / virtual web hosting, before everyone had their own VMs. Even VMs aren't independent at small enough scale.
wgerard 7y ago
> Name 5. WoW, Runescape, CS 1.6/Source, Slack, uh... Tribes? I guess?
- gsich 7y ago
  CS 1.6/Source/GO has servers you can selfhost. With the rest I haven't heared people saying "my server" in a sense that they own the thing.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]