I've always felt that the name Planetside was derived from the word "Stateside" which refers to being in the United States. It's orogin comes from WWII when soldiers couldn't wait to get back home, or "Stateside". So in this case it's people wanting to get "Home" after traveling through space.
I have also heard the term "Planetside" used in Si-Fi before to describe getting off the ship, and out of space, as in "We're going Planetside for a little R&R".
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