The alert comes from Metal Gear Solid, released for PlayStation in 1998 and created by Hideo Kojima at Konami. In the stealth series the sting signals the alert phase, when guards have spotted Solid Snake and the familiar exclamation mark pops up above their heads. Decades later the cue escaped the games through YouTube edits, streams and short form video, where its instantly recognisable panic became shorthand for being caught. It remains popular because almost any viewer understands the joke without needing to know the game.