Fan Casting Gray is Useless in Sort by Tropes

Gray is a rather dull color. So, if it is used for normally brightly colored buttons or even people, that's probably a bad sign. As far as the most common use is concerned, it means that button cannot be used, or that person is dead or can't help for some other reason. Commonly used in Video Games for both gameplay and storytelling, especially for menus indicating incapacitated members. In most examples of Subsystem Damage, the system that is lost, disabled, and/or destroyed is often grayed out on the diagram if red isn't used instead (or red is reserved for when a system is destroyed versus gray when it's merely disabled).