Founded in 1997 as an IRC network for QuakeWorld players, QuakeNet saw huge growth over the coming years as it attracted many other gamers.

Q is the main channel service and manages account authentication similar to nickname registration on servers with Nickserv; although there is no nickname protection service, instead operating on a first come first served basis.

S is SpamScan, a service used to detect spam from channels and warn or later punish the offending users.

Additional services include O as an operserv reference bot to the server operators on QuakeNet, and R (RequestBot) which allows users to request both Q and S if their channel meets their requirements.

The client software, called qwebirc, was created by the QuakeNet development team.