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The thing about game servers though is that you could run them yourself and typically choose where to do so. On your PC during a LAN party? Sure. On an always-o

The thing about game servers though is that you could run them yourself and typically choose where to do so. On your PC during a LAN party? Sure. On an always-on VPS? Sure. But wherever it was, you were always able to run it yourself, even if you ultimately might have paid someone else to run it. You're just running a server program. By contrast, only Discord-the-company can run Discord servers.

MichaelBurge 5y ago
There are "private servers" made by people other than the developers for games that don't release server executables or source code. So the remote side being named a "server" is independent of whether it is available to run(for gamers).
- ryukafalz 5y ago
  Yes, but those are typically for games like MMOs where the servers are responsible for a large number of players. Those are never presented to the user as "your server," they're "the game's servers." Contrast with Discord where there's something of an illusion of ownership; people will refer to them as "my Discord server." EDIT: Incidentally, if you're actually running a private server for an MMO, I would indeed call that "your server."
fragmede 5y ago
Sure but that hasn't been true since, like, 2003. Many games these days (especially popular console games) have no such option (despite the existence of a PC port). Only the company can "run" "servers" that the built-in (aka GameSpy is dead) matchmaking will see. Gone are the days that you can feed an IP address and port into a game and connect to a friend's instance. There are exceptions that prove the rule (Hi Factorio!) but they're rarer and rarer, especially if you want a dedicated (no graphics) server running. Still, technology has advanced to the point that we can run Quake2 in-browser via JavaScript+wasm (and I don't mean via a plug-in!), so the old ways aren't totally dead.
- ryukafalz 5y ago
  Sure, but in recent games you also wouldn't talk about having "your own server" or joining "a server" - you're joining a match or a world or similar. You might refer to "the game's servers" if they happen to be down or overloaded or something, but it's less common these days to talk about a specific server. The exception, of course, being games for which it is actually still possible to run your own servers. Minecraft comes to mind.
  - theelous3 5y ago
    > or joining "a server" > recent games You absolutely would. Just because maybe you're playing overwatch or league or something, doesn't mean this isn't still a hugely popular paradigm.
    - f1refly 5y ago
      In my 10+ years playing league and 2 years playing overwatch I never heard someone refer to the current game as "server". People still have a vague image of what a server looks like and know that company hosted games typically don't respond to that image.
      - theelous3 5y ago
        ...and that's why I said you would say otherwise if you were playing league and overwatch.

MichaelBurge 5y ago

There are "private servers" made by people other than the developers for games that don't release server executables or source code. So the remote side being named a "server" is independent of whether it is available to run(for gamers).

ryukafalz 5y ago
Yes, but those are typically for games like MMOs where the servers are responsible for a large number of players. Those are never presented to the user as "your server," they're "the game's servers." Contrast with Discord where there's something of an illusion of ownership; people will refer to them as "my Discord server." EDIT: Incidentally, if you're actually running a private server for an MMO, I would indeed call that "your server."

fragmede 5y ago

Sure but that hasn't been true since, like, 2003. Many games these days (especially popular console games) have no such option (despite the existence of a PC port). Only the company can "run" "servers" that the built-in (aka GameSpy is dead) matchmaking will see. Gone are the days that you can feed an IP address and port into a game and connect to a friend's instance. There are exceptions that prove the rule (Hi Factorio!) but they're rarer and rarer, especially if you want a dedicated (no graphics) server running. Still, technology has advanced to the point that we can run Quake2 in-browser via JavaScript+wasm (and I don't mean via a plug-in!), so the old ways aren't totally dead.

ryukafalz 5y ago
Sure, but in recent games you also wouldn't talk about having "your own server" or joining "a server" - you're joining a match or a world or similar. You might refer to "the game's servers" if they happen to be down or overloaded or something, but it's less common these days to talk about a specific server. The exception, of course, being games for which it is actually still possible to run your own servers. Minecraft comes to mind.
- theelous3 5y ago
  > or joining "a server" > recent games You absolutely would. Just because maybe you're playing overwatch or league or something, doesn't mean this isn't still a hugely popular paradigm.
  - f1refly 5y ago
    In my 10+ years playing league and 2 years playing overwatch I never heard someone refer to the current game as "server". People still have a vague image of what a server looks like and know that company hosted games typically don't respond to that image.
    - theelous3 5y ago
      ...and that's why I said you would say otherwise if you were playing league and overwatch.