Before the quick match button, before the party system, before skill-based matchmaking, we had the server browser: A literal list of all active matches, neatly sorted by player count, ping, mode, and map. The age of server browsing wasn't perfect, but the advantages were obvious: Like a saloon that never closed, players established "home" servers where they felt comfortable, made friends with other regulars, and voted on what to play next.

It's only a little hyperbolic to suggest that Call of Duty killed the server browser. The advent of one-button automatic matchmaking began before the first Modern Warfare, but it was that game's generational popularity that accelerated the humble server browser's slide into obscurity.

By the 2010s, a new standard of official servers policed by strict s

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