This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Describe Context Sensitive Button Discussion here.
See also Discarded YKTTW Phlebotinum Functions As The Plot Demands
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Not going to make a real edit until I'm more familiar here, but I just wanted to mention the communicator "lapel pins" in Star Trek: Next Gen. Tap the pin, and you're instantly in communication with exactly who you're trying to reach. Except Riker. For him it works even if he doesn't tap it.
Daibhid C: The official Handwave is that you need to tap the communicator to connect to ship's systems if you're on a planet, but not if you're on board. However, tapping the communicator when you're on the ship speeds up the connection slightly, and is often done simply out of habit. Or something like that.
Tra V 333: Could a computer mouse be considered a real life example? You click millions of times, and each time you get a different effect.
Meems: The 'soft keys' on a cell phone could—I've added the example to the article.
Meems: I'm not sure the El Goonish Shive example really counts—I thought Justin was worried because the single button meant the sofa could only get bigger.
Ninjacrat: Changed the Conkers Bad Fur Day example because I'm 99.9% sure that they weren't the Trope Namer, but just parodying a contemporary trend.
Neebat: When a program gives you one button that changes its function depending on context, that's a normal user interface design practice. Computer mice tend to encourage all developers to follow this model. I think it's a mistake to mix up the trope with that practice. If that program happens to be a game or toy, the player is going to be pressing the same button to do different things at different times, and that's still just a usability adaption, not part of the fiction. If a game CHARACTER pushes the same button over and over to do different things, that's a trope.
