The use of "server" to mean "instance" is very old. For efficiency's sake, multiple separate instances of old FPS games can be run in a single process, but I doubt you would object to the vernacular of "Quake server" as short-hand for "server-side Quake game instance".

Also, Discord internally calls them guilds.

That does not seem like a very generous interpretation.

I'd wager that most of Discord's clientele don't have any specific expectations for the word "server". Regardless, I think "server" was carried over from the Mumble / Ventrilo / Teamspeak gaming community.

That's where it came from. Before discord, gamers set up actual servers with Teamspeak or Mumble and handed the IPs and ports to their guildmates. The "Teamspeak server" was where you met for voice chatting, and since Discord just wanted to supplant Teamspeak with their own product, they kept the "server" part in the name of the thing that gamers were supposed to meet for voice chatting.

It is a pure marketing ploy. Internally they call the "server" thing a "guild" AFAIK, which is technically just as much BS as the "server" moniker, but for other reasons (not every community using Discord is a "guild" in the commonly accepted meaning of that word in the gaming world, which is a long-term organizational group doing stuff together in an MMORPG).

I don't put this on Discord - the word "server" has a substantially different meaning to varying constituencies and Discord is certainly not the first to use it in a way different from CS101.

> gaslight

People on the internet really love abusing this word, especially Twitter.

Lately, I've seen "he's gaslighting the world!" used in place of a public lie.

I think it is to the point where the word has lost it's original meaning.

Discord servers are free. I fail to see how this was a move to make more money.

Ah, yes, I forgot that Discord runs their services out of the goodness in their hearts. That explains the $20B valuation.

The valuation comes from data. Text and voice. The later to feed some AI.

I thought I was alone in being above-average annoyed at their (IMO deceitful) use of the term. Thank you for posting this.

They had to take the "server" term from TeamSpeak and other similar software. That's what gamers call the communication spaces.

Internally they name them "guilds" or something.