A shard is an instance of a world, realm, or playground in some Massively Multiplayer Online Game s (MMOGs) or in a multiplayer Computer Role-playing Game -style server. In MMOGs, the term ''shard'' is often associated with '' Ultima Online '' and '' Neverwinter Nights ''; other MMOGs call them ''servers'' instead, although their function is still basically the same. The usage originated with the '' Ultima Online '' story, where each of the game's servers were said to be different images of the world, trapped in the shattered shards of a mystic gem. Four games known for using unsharded servers are Mankind (MMORTS) , EVE Online , A Tale In The Desert and Project Entropia where there is no sharding or Instancing and everything happens in the same persistent online world.
