User blog:Banarama/The origins of the name "Diep.io"

Many have wondered about the origin of the name "Diep.io", as "Diep" is a seemingly random word with no clear meaning, unlike other games such as Agar.io (agar is used to cultivate biological growths such as virii). Some have postulated it originates from the Dieppe Raid during World War II, given that tanks were somewhat involved in it. However, there is an alternative and more probable explanation, and it has to do with the history of the game itself -- or more specifically, its root in a classic Flash game: Diepix Arena, released in 2011 and followed up with a sequel shortly after. This simple game featured a basic tank who had to dodge bullets and destroy enemies, much like the current .io game but in a single-player format.

The credits for this game include a name that some of you may be familiar with: Matheus aka M28 aka Zeach aka the creator of Diep.io. This user would later go on to create the wildly successful game Agar.io, and following that success, he returned to an old flash game he helped make: Diepix. If you need more confirmation that Matheus, the creator of Agar.io, and Zeach are one and the same, the catalogue of .io games directly linked in Diep.io, m28.studio, directly implies that both Diep.io and Agar.io are developed by M28.

This info gives a lot of insight into the background for diep.io, but what does this have to do with the name? Well, there's that "ix" at the end, which calls into question the validity of the name originating from Dieppe. Where does the name actually come from then? This is a hypothesis, but I believe it is simply a portmanteau of the words "Die" (referring to the game's survival nature) and "Pix[el]" (referring to its status as a video game). This explanation may sound rather juvenile, but recall that several sources including Rolling Stone magazine and the Wikipedia article for Agar.io stated his age to be 19 years as of the release of Agar.io in April of 2015, which would peg him at 15 years of age around the time of Diepix, which was finished in April 2011 (four years earlier). This is equivalent to a high school freshman or sophomore under the American educational system (although Matheus is a Brazilian student) -- not the most mature age. From this origin, it is easy to infer that the name "Diep.io" simply resulted from replacing the last two letters of the original name (DiepIX) with the .io suffix. Therefore, if this is true it means Diep really means nothing on its own -- it is simply a chopped-up vestige of the game's Flash game origins.

Not all shooter games must harken back to real-life tanks and dramatic war -- some, like Diep.io, may simply be a continuation of good ol' Flash games. A world of simple (if at times banal) amusement that could be created and enjoyed by virtually anyone -- at their core, .io games are merely a continuation of that joyous legacy, and Diep.io is a beautiful example.

P.S. If Diepix is the origin for the name Diep.io, and is truly formed from the words "Die" and "Pixel" as seems probable, then we finally know the correct pronunciation of Diep: not "Die-ehp" or "Deep", but "Die-puh".

P.P.S. I considered leaving a link to the first announcement of Agar.io as it could provide further information about Matheus and the game's development, but the post is located on 4chan and my laptop mysteriously opened several malware links and one pornography site shortly after viewing. Never go on 4chan kids.