How Discord Won
>In short, it is a way for someone to pay to stand out.<p>Oh boy, that is putting it so naively.<p>The tricky part with "status for sale" is projecting some semblance of legitimacy. Specially among more tech savy and piraty communities (eg gaming), if you are paying extra for a free service and making a big deal about it with flair, you are just a fool.<p>They did a great job in integrating technical perks with flair in a continum; from audio quality, through animations and banners, to vanity URLs. And the boost system creates a ladder with different steps. And it only worked because of how discerning their users are (for contrast, some people are plainly oblivious to media degradation in places like whatsapp).<p>They knew very well their market and how to package legitimate status to them.