Social platform Discord was originally developed so its designer could chat with friends while playing Final Fantasy 11.
Yes, we have Square Enix’s first MMORPG to thank for the birth of Discord, a platform that’s now used globally for voice chat and building communities.
In an interview with Famitsu (thanks Siliconera), Discord creator Stanislav Vishnevskiy discussed the origins of the platform: he was “obsessed” with Final Fantasy 11 and developed a prototype software to use while playing.
Then, when he moved to California and joined mobile game developer GREE, he met co-founder Jason Citron and together they created Discord in earnest.
So why was Discord so successful, especially when voice chat apps like Skype already existed? Vishnevskiy believes it was the simplicity of using Discord that led to its popularity.
The co-founders’ vision was a “living room where you can spend time with your friends”, and not just another tool. “I think that’s what made Discord so special,” he said.
Of course, Vishnevskiy is now a fan of Final Fantasy 14 too – he took a week off to play Dawntrail and has most jobs up to the max level 100.
Final Fantasy 14’s next patch, 7.1., will include the Final Fantasy 11 themed Alliance Raid series, Echoes of Vana’diel. The patch will launch in mid-November.
Last month Discord was updated to share your recent playtime with friends – thankfully this can also be turned off.
Microsoft has also expanded its support of the platform on Xbox Series X/S: it now combines friends across Xbox and Discord, and you can watch a friend streaming directly from the console’s Xbox Friends list.