It feels like everything is on Discord these days. Does the developer want to share news about the game?Discord. Want to run a table talk game?Discord. Want to host a meetup in the real world? No kidding, Discord. I went to a coffee morning this weekend and was asked for my Discord handle and flashbanned. It’s inevitable.
It’s not best to have everything in one place. These days, it feels like there are as many servers as there are hair follicles while waiting for the app’s inevitable Ragnarok (a mythical apocalypse, not a game). Although I’m concerned, I can at least partially blame MMORPG Final Fantasy 11.
This is according to the app’s co-creator and current CTO, Stanislav Vishnevsky, who in an interview with Famitsu (thank you, Silicone) revealed that there are over 40 emojis that we know and love. Discord, which has permanently muted its servers, revealed that it was actually inspired by: Square Enix’s first MMO (quotes below are machine translated):
“When I was a student, I was obsessed with Final Fantasy 11, and created a prototype of Discord as software that could be used while playing the game. From there, I moved to California and joined a company called GREE. Co-founded it. After meeting Jason Citron, who was an expert in the field, I wanted more people to use the communication tool we had created, so we started developing Discord in earnest.
You can’t blame him for just deciding to create his own Discord prototype while in school. As a relatively young Millennial, I remember the hallowed days of cassette tapes. We also remember the folk gods of the ancient internet: Teamspeak, Skype, and Ventrillo. They now lie at the bottom of the abyss because Kronos killed their father and Hades killed Kronos. This means you can still use all three, but Discord is now the default.
I feel like that’s because while advances since the days of dial-up have certainly made voice chat simpler, Discord is simple enough that you can set up a server with your eyes closed. Trying to use anything else is like trying to sell someone who uses a search engine other than Google, or an avid D&D player who uses another tabletop system. There is little to gain and it will take some effort, but we are already there.
What’s interesting is that, as far as I know, the creators of Discord’s love affair with FF11 (and of course FF14) were part of the app’s early stages around 2015-2016. “Previously, a huge number of commands were exclusive to FF14, with a wide variety of commands available in the database at the time,” user Scarletchild wrote on the r/ffxiv subreddit. “I’m sorry this is known and people don’t believe me when I point it out. I can’t even find this shit on the Discord wiki page.”
I decided to do some research. While I couldn’t find a Mythologized page with a direct name drop, there is this version of the site, shared courtesy of webdesignmuseum.org, that includes name drops from FF14, some screenshots, and the final Impersonate a user with a fantasy-appropriate username. There’s also the 2015 AMA, which promised the same level of integration.
“Once the bugs are ironed out, we would like to integrate with Final Fantasy. We would like to link your Lodestone profile so Discord can see who you are in-game. Permissions will be set automatically. We would like to enable Discord server owners to sync their FC rosters so that .
Regardless, Vishnevsky still plays Final Fantasy, and has thoroughly enjoyed Final Fantasy 14: Dawn Trail, albeit with some mixed reviews. “I took a week off from work,” he admits, “most of my work is level 100. I was a machinist by trade, but now I’m a pictomancer.”Bob Ross is coming for us all.
