Realm of the Mad God is a cooperative bullet-hell MMO built around permadeath, so losing a character means losing that character for good, along with much of its progress. That high stakes design made its death cue instantly recognisable to players, who shared gameplay clips, streams and fail compilations where the sound marks the end of a run. Over time it moved beyond the game itself into short-form edits, where it now works as shorthand for a sudden, costly mistake in any game.