"Shard" is down... what is shard and what other non-shard shard-like things are out there?


I mean
I can guess from the context

I'd say Shard is the name of the main server, or, complex of servers, that runs STO. Are there any other servers? etc etc?

And while I'm at it, is there some quick list of this sort of syntax I can read while I'm waiting?

Shard is what Cryptic uses to define a multiple server conglomeration. Many servers into one shard. There are two shards, Holodeck (the live server) and the Tribble (the test server).

Krayus is correct. I should add that the term "shard" originates from Ultima Online, one of the first mainstream MMO-style games. In the original creative premise behind UO, the entire world was shattered into countless copies, or "shards," each of them a representative alternate reality.

I'm actually really wonder why the term is used, since it was often used to describe separate servers, rather than a single vast server network. In STO, everyone plays in the same "universe," so simply calling it a "universe," or similar, would appear to be more accurate. But then again, I can be nit-picky (as all of us Trekkies tend to be!)

A shard is a shiny thing the crystalline entity shoots at you

And currently, it would look something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5WnXgpCvAE

Shards are those big purple flying things that people are always getting themselves killed by in the Crystalline Stupidity PvE map.