Discord Was Made So The Creator Could Talk About Final Fantasy 11

Summary

In the time since its release back in 2015,Discordhas quickly grownfrom a messaging hub to an all-encompassing social media giant. Nowadays, there is a Discord for everything,ranging from massive video gamestoeveryday fandoms, like anime or sports.

That said, Discord’s original intentions might surprise you. As it turns out, the app was designed with one singular purpose in mind.

Final Fantasy Has Impacted Everything

In an interview with Famitsuthat has sincebeen translated by Siliconera, Discord’s co-founder, Stanislav Vishnevskiy, shared that his original intention behind Discord was to be able to communicate with friends during play sessions ofFinal Fantasy 11. For those who might’ve lost count of Final Fantasy, 11 was an MMO on thePS2andPC, serving as the precursor toFinal Fantasy 14.

“When I was a student, I was obsessed with FF11, and I made something like a prototype of Discord as software that could be used while playing the game,” Vishnevskiy recalled. But why not email or other platforms like Skype, which offer voice communication?

“There was no system that allowed you to use them simply,” he explained. “We had a vision of making Discord not just a tool, but something like a ‘living room where you can be with your friends.’ We wanted to create a place in that living room where you could play games with your friends and share exciting moments. I think that it was because of this desire that Discord became something special.”

Vishnevskiy eventually moved to California, where he was able to meet with fellow co-founder Jason Citron. The rest, as they say, is history.

And if you’re wondering whether he still plays Final Fantasy 11, the answer to that is yes. Not only that, but Vishnevskiy has managed to squeak in Final Fantasy 14 into day-to-day gaming habits. He took a whole week off work to play Dawntrail and has been playing the game since its 1.0 release.

Well, there you have it. The official history of how Discord came to be. Next time you open up the app to chat with your friends, be sure to thank Final Fantasy 11 for existing and inspiring its co-founder with the idea.