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Boss Button
- 70 statements
- 12 feature instances
- 8 referencing feature instances
| Boss Button | type |
FeatureClass | |
| Boss Button | label |
Boss Button | |
| Boss Button | page |
BossButton | |
| Boss Button | comment |
A Boss Button (also known as a Boss Key) is a feature present in some older computer games activated by a command to fool superiors and coworkers into thinking that the player is doing work instead of playing a game. In some cases, the boss key hides the game completely and returns the user to the desktop, the DOS prompt or whatever, with the option of quickly resuming where the player left. More elaborately, some games will instead display a generic office-work picture (e.g. a spreadsheet, an important-looking graph, a screenshot of a text processor). Of course, such screens don't necessarily hold up to close scrutiny. Has been rendered pretty much obsolete with multitasking operating systems that allow the user to quickly switch active windows (such as the ALT-TAB command in Windows and the CMD-TAB command in macOS), but the feature is still used on a few websites. A specific way for a Professional Slacker who is aiming at Looking Busy. Not a button or key that allows you to summon, encounter or defeat a boss character. Examples |
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| Boss Button | fetched |
2023-05-29T18:14:18Z | |
| Boss Button | parsed |
2023-05-29T18:14:18Z | |
| Boss Button | processingComment |
Dropped link to AbuseTropes: Not an Item - CAT | |
| Boss Button | processingComment |
Dropped link to SpaceQuestIII: Not an Item - UNKNOWN | |
| Boss Button | processingUnknown |
SpaceQuestIII | |
| Boss Button | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Boss Button / int_208e5e27 | type |
Boss Button | |
| Boss Button / int_208e5e27 | comment |
The original version of Quarterstaff: The Tomb of Setmoth has a "boss is coming" command which opened an "Excel folder" window, though considering that the game was still visible behind the window, and the folder included a file damningly named "Resume", it wasn't very effective. | |
| Boss Button / int_208e5e27 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Boss Button / int_208e5e27 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Quarterstaff: The Tomb of Setmoth (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Boss Button / int_208e5e27 | |
| Boss Button / int_7dba78d8 | type |
Boss Button | |
| Boss Button / int_7dba78d8 | comment |
Martin Gardner, in the addendums to his articles about Conway's Game of Life, mentions a computer expert who put a switch under his table in case one of the bosses walked in (the original articles are from 1970, the book with the addendums is 1983). | |
| Boss Button / int_7dba78d8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Boss Button / int_7dba78d8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Conway's Game of Life (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Boss Button / int_7dba78d8 | |
| Boss Button / int_8bca03fd | type |
Boss Button | |
| Boss Button / int_8bca03fd | comment |
Hugo's House of Horrors has one, activated by pressing F9. | |
| Boss Button / int_8bca03fd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Boss Button / int_8bca03fd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Hugo's House of Horrors (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Boss Button / int_8bca03fd | |
| Boss Button / int_a695c23a | type |
Boss Button | |
| Boss Button / int_a695c23a | comment |
In Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, Benji spends his work time playing a first-person shooter when not helping Ethan. When Director Hunley shows up to interrogate him about the ongoing search for Ethan, he's rather quick to hit a key on his computer that automatically pulls work-related files up. | |
| Boss Button / int_a695c23a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Boss Button / int_a695c23a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation | hasFeature |
Boss Button / int_a695c23a | |
| Boss Button / int_b40513b1 | type |
Boss Button | |
| Boss Button / int_b40513b1 | comment |
Foxtrot has Jason talking to Peter about his new Prince of Persia game, which their mother doesn't know about. Just as he's saying that it's a game where you need to be fast, their mother drops in... and sees Jason typing up his book report. One arc where Jason tries to develop his own game for iFruit systems sees him implement this as a feature. In this case, the idea isn't to hide that he's playing a game at all, but to make the presumably mature-rated game look more family-friendly than it actually is so that kids don't get in trouble for playing it. |
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| Boss Button / int_b40513b1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Boss Button / int_b40513b1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| FoxTrot (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
Boss Button / int_b40513b1 | |
| Boss Button / int_b8c8f795 | type |
Boss Button | |
| Boss Button / int_b8c8f795 | comment |
The PHD website features an "emergency button" that replaces the page with a scientific-looking paper. | |
| Boss Button / int_b8c8f795 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Boss Button / int_b8c8f795 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| PHD (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Boss Button / int_b8c8f795 | |
| Boss Button / int_c19c6efa | type |
Boss Button | |
| Boss Button / int_c19c6efa | comment |
Minecraft's 2019 April Fools' update, which contains many references to 90s gaming trends, includes a boss key which displays a humorous spreadsheet◊. | |
| Boss Button / int_c19c6efa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Boss Button / int_c19c6efa | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Minecraft (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Boss Button / int_c19c6efa | |
| Boss Button / int_cc0196e1 | type |
Boss Button | |
| Boss Button / int_cc0196e1 | comment |
Gal*Gun has a variation: there's a panic button/"mom arrived screen" which changes the game from an Ecchi-themed shooter to a Retraux RPG via a Heart Symbol-shaped Fight Woosh, which is much less embarrassing to be caught "playing". The Cute Slime Mooks can't actually be fought, but still, better than the lustful, moaning schoolgirls that the game normally has. | |
| Boss Button / int_cc0196e1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Boss Button / int_cc0196e1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gal*Gun (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Boss Button / int_cc0196e1 | |
| Boss Button / int_d5a9a1a7 | type |
Boss Button | |
| Boss Button / int_d5a9a1a7 | comment |
Rogue has one. It brings up a fake DOS prompt. | |
| Boss Button / int_d5a9a1a7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Boss Button / int_d5a9a1a7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Rogue (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Boss Button / int_d5a9a1a7 | |
| Boss Button / int_e26d37ec | type |
Boss Button | |
| Boss Button / int_e26d37ec | comment |
The Spectrum HoloByte DOS release of Tetris had a boss key which would bring up a fake spreadsheet. At least one fanmade version (Nyet) did the same. | |
| Boss Button / int_e26d37ec | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Boss Button / int_e26d37ec | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Tetris / Videogame | hasFeature |
Boss Button / int_e26d37ec | |
| Boss Button / int_e28481f1 | type |
Boss Button | |
| Boss Button / int_e28481f1 | comment |
Solitaire for Windows had a boss key before release, according to this interview, but it didn't get past management. | |
| Boss Button / int_e28481f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Boss Button / int_e28481f1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Solitaire (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Boss Button / int_e28481f1 | |
| Boss Button / int_fa1efd14 | type |
Boss Button | |
| Boss Button / int_fa1efd14 | comment |
Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards would bring up a fake bar chart on command. However, upon closer inspection, the bar chart was not so innocent-looking (the bar labels were for different types of condoms), and when the player attempted to return to the game, they would have to restore from their last save, because, as the game puts it, "when you panic, I forget everything!" | |
| Boss Button / int_fa1efd14 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Boss Button / int_fa1efd14 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Boss Button / int_fa1efd14 |
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