The sound comes from S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the first person shooter series by GSC Game World that began with Shadow of Chernobyl in 2007 and is set in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Inside the games, stalkers carry a PDA that manages maps, messages and objectives, and its short beep announces incoming information. Clips of the tone circulated among fans as a ringtone and notification sound, especially in Russian speaking communities, before crossing into meme edits where any new task gets treated like a dangerous mission in the Zone.