Discord launched in 2015 as a voice and text chat platform for gamers and later became a home for study groups, creators and online communities of all kinds. Its default notification ping spread beyond the app as servers grew, turning into shorthand for being summoned online. Editors began inserting the sound into memes, stream highlights and short videos where no actual message existed, relying on the audience's habit of reacting to it. That shared habit keeps the tiny clip useful long after many users have muted their own notifications.