It's alright in humor-based settings, but serious games and films completely stop being serious at all after I hear this. It takes me out of the moment because it sounds so damn goofy. Nobody actually screams like this in real life when hurt/killed, or at least I hope not.

Honestly, the only serious game that I thought was made better with it was Red Dead Redemption. And the only reason is because it was kind of a requisite, due to the genre.

@reverendhunt: I think that's a bit of the point. It's a light-hearted sound injected into many areas of media. Even serious games can have a hint of humor and remind you that you're playing a game. Scary games often relying on that ebb and flow of feeling comforted and then quite tense. I'd just say not to let it get to you so much. Try to appreciate the silliness of it and just go with it. You're watching movies or playing games. It's okay if they have a bit of fun on occasion.

The Wilhelm Scream is the Comic Sans of sound effects.

Is this serious enough for you?

It's usually used wrong and is a very old sound byte.

I agree, though, it's generally bad to use it. Very few people use it seriously anymore (at least I haven't heard it used seriously in a while).

Like a decent jump scare (which should only be used once) if the setting is right, one wilhelm scream is usually fine... when used properly.

I don't usually mind it. In Red Dead Redemption I actively enjoyed hearing it.

Yep, this specific example is great because the scream was pretty much honoring the genre that introduced it. However, if they use it again in another red dead, that'd just null and void the whole reason I liked it.

That James Blake track is pretty chill...

...cough...

Like all memes, it started as a funny in-joke. Then, for some unfathomable reason, people thought it would be funny to repeat it several hundred times, and now it's one more shitty internet joke which idiots regurgitate on each other endlessly.

It used to be some obscure film thing, but now it's more well known now and I dunno, distracting.

Perfect.

I love Wilhelms, the more ridiculously unnecessary the usage the better.

So you're saying it's perfect for informal situations?

I love it man, there's a reason it's still around.

When I play Risk with friends, we set the Wilhelm scream to play every time a unit dies.

It Never. Gets. Old.

I agree totally, it is distracting and annoying. What used to be a funny little in-joke for movie-makers is now far too well known. I imagine all the sound editors guffawing behind their hands when they put it in their game: "haha we're so funny and part of the joke you guys!"

It never was funny it is shit and should be treated like so. Any one who uses it in serious work are an evil to this world.

Ever played Red Dead Redemption?

@greggd: Yes and I cringe when the sound is heard :( why blemish something so wonderfull with bs?

As always there's a way to use it effectively but generally speaking the act of throwing it in there for homage is less and less meaningful. Or put another way, the bar for using it has shifted from presence to execution and as such it's not enough for it to just be there in order to be funny/effective.

When was it used in RDR? I don't remember hearing it.

I don't need to speak ever again.

I'm pretty sure it was just used at random when killing dudes.

I remember when it was just a rad stormtrooper scream. Then at some point it became an elf scream that I'm pretty sure I heard a minute ago by someone else getting killed and fuck that shit.

Because it's part of the homage. If it belongs in anything, it belongs in that game.

It breaks the immersion really easily. I have not noticed this in games but too many movie scenes have lost their impact because of this old sound clip. 99% of the time using it is just bad sound design.

The Howie Scream is way better.

Man, I love humor-based settings.

Your face is a humor-based setting.

They use the scream at 3:18 in this vid...

As a fan of things that are dumb and stupid, I love the Wilhelm scream; but you're totally right, anything that wants to be 'serious' really shouldn't use it.

A Wilhelm Scream are also pretty awesome.

@reverendhunt: Here's some movies you can no longer take seriously:

• All Star Wars movies
• All Indiana Jones movies
• LOTR: Two Towers and Return of the King
• Die Hard with a vengeance
• Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill and Deathproof
• A whole lot of Superhero movies
• A lot of Disney and Pixar movies

That's just scratching the surface. If one second of sound is enough to turn you off an otherwise enjoyable movie, well, I'm glad that's your problem and not mine.

yeah, I agree. When it was used in Django unchained (which is not the most serious of all films) I was kinda disappointed. It just feels cheap, like you are supposed to go "OH MAN, I recognize that! I'm GOOD AT MOVIES AW YEAH.

Your humor-based setting is a humour-based setting.

I love the Wilhelm Scream and I'm convinced that people who don't are dead inside.

I'd be pretty happy if people just stopped using it. It always takes me out of the moment.

I hate it. It takes you out of the moment. If I'm watching something like Lord Of The Rings, I don't want to have my immersion in to that world broken because I think of some sound guy hyuckin' it up because he used what is the sound designer's equivalent of a shit internet meme like a rage face.

I dislike it because it always takes me out of the moment. It's the audio equivalent to showing a big giant swinging dick on the screen for no good reason. Even if it's just for a split second there's no reason for it to be there when there's literally any other sound that could be played and it doesn't add anything.

Its in almost every piece of media we consume, so I can't imagine the stress you all must be feeling every day.

I hate it. It takes you out of the moment. If I'm watching something like Lord Of The Rings, I don't want to have my immersion in to that world broken because I think of some sound guy hyuckin' it up because he used what is the sound designer's equivalent of a shit internet meme like a rage face.

The most recent egregious use of the Wilhelm for me was in the Hobbit. They used it for a goblin.

So dumb.

I don't like it but I wouldn't say it bothers me. One second of audio shouldn't ruin your entire experience with something.