History Main / IKnowMortalKombat

* [[https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/149haw9/ua_soldier_shows_his_skill_using_a_grenade/ This Ukrainian soldier]] attests to having learned how to use a grenade launcher from ''VideoGame/{{Stalker}}''. He then kindly asked GSC Game World founder Sergiy Grygorovych a copy of the game, which they [[https://imgur.com/a/vW3tv8H kindly obliged]] as a gesture of thanks to their services to the country.
* A different Ukrainian crew that took out a Russian T-90M tank while riding a Bradley (using nothing more than its 25mm Autocannon) attests that playing ''Videogame/WarThunder'' [[https://twitter.com/DylanBurns1776/status/1748580265394377061 let them know which weakspots to target]].

* A 21-year-old was named manager of Azerbaijani football club Baku FC, even though his previous experience consisted of [[http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/oddballs/918759-baku-fc-name-21-year-old-as-manager-based-on-computer-game-experience 10 years of playing]] ''VideoGame/FootballManager''.

* ''Film/{{DARYL}}'': The title character is an expert at all electronic games. This is partially because he has [[SuperReflexes lightning fast reflexes]], but partially because he is also a cyborg that can hack directly into the video games. Eventually he uses these abilities to hijack an SR-71 Blackbird.

** {{Implied}} and/or {{Downplayed}} in the AlternateContinuity sequel VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh. Jet's skills as a video game programmer and player certainly don't hurt when it comes to learning how to use the weaponry. However, the comics and in-game emails show that he was already fond of parkour, motorcycle racing, and other extreme sports. [[note]] While 2.0 became CanonDiscontinuity from Disney, the character of Jet was apparently [[DecompositeCharacter split and recycled]] into Sam Flynn and Beck the Renegade [[/note]]

* An interesting variation occurred with Creator/{{Activision}}'s ''Space Shuttle: A Journey Into Space'' for the UsefulNotes/Atari2600. In normal gameplay -- and in RealLife -- the Shuttle's primary engines are used to de-orbit, while the secondary ones are for minor adjustments. During game development, however, a tester was able to de-orbit and land the Shuttle using only the secondary engines. Thinking it was a bug, programmer Gary Kitchen asked NASA to try the maneuver on their simulators to compare the results... and they managed the same feat. Sometime later, emergency procedures on how to land using only the secondary engines were added to the RealLife Space Shuttle's instruction procedures.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'': Marty attributes his skill at a 19th-century shooting range to hours spent playing the arcade [[LightGunGame light gun shooting game]] ''Wild Gunman'', which [[ChekhovsSkill we see him play]] [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII one film before]] at an [[TheEighties '80s]] retro cafe in 2015. This makes a certain amount of sense, considering the former is essentially a game as well, albeit with a real gun (never mind the recoil). The scene is part of a series-long RunningGag involving Marty being a crack shot at such "baby's toys". Ultimately subverted, though. Marty learns that [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome his video-game-refined skills won't help against an experienced gunslinger like Buford Tannen]] when [[RippleEffectIndicator the picture of Doc's tombstone changes showing "Clint Eastwood" instead]]. Marty eventually beats Tannen without using his gun by out-thinking and punching the crap out of him.

** It's also subverted in that his first try goes about as well as you'd expect because he'd never handled a real gun before. It's when he asks for a second try, now knowing to expect the recoil that Marty aces the shooting range.

* ''Fanfic/SpiderNinja'': Leo and Raph admit to Agents Coulson and Hill that they learned interrogation techniques (specifically GoodCopBadCop) from watching cop shows on TV.

* ''Film/FoolsGold'': When asked how he learned to fly the biplane they are riding in, Finn simply answers "UsefulNotes/PlayStation!".

* Spoofed in ''Film/MenInBlackII'', in which the only way to control the CoolCar manually while in flight is with a UsefulNotes/PlayStation gamepad; Jay has no problems with it, but Kay, being a CoolOldGuy who was with the [=MiB=] since its founding in TheFifties, well...

* In the late 1990s, one could occasionally see a funny BumperSticker reading "[-WARNING: I LEARNED HOW TO DRIVE ON MY USEFULNOTES/{{PLAYSTATION}}!-]"

*** In general, the bigger NASCAR teams usually employ a driver who does nothing but test the simulator and prepare setups for the other team's drivers.

* A different Ukrainian crew that took out a Russian T90M tank while riding a Bradley (using nothing more than its 25mm Autocannon) attests that playing ''Videogame/WarThunder'' [[https://twitter.com/DylanBurns1776/status/1748580265394377061 let them know which weakspots to target]].

*** The US Marines developed a custom map for ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''. It would later be sold commercially, and the creators became full-time game developers.

* In ''[[https://www.potionsandsnitches.org/fanfiction/viewstory.php?sid=3872&chapter=1 A Lesson in Driving and Dying]'' when Snape questions Harry's erratic driving skills, Harry states that he snuck onto his cousin's Nintendo once to play ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart''.

* ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'':
** Inverted and subverted in an episode: Noa is an ace at piloting giant robots, but she totally bombs playing a robot-themed video game.

* ''Podcast/BlackJackJustice'': In "Death and Taxes", Jack brings Freddy the Finger along on a job that involves staying the night in a deserted and potentially haunted house. Freddy tells Trixie that he is a student of the occult by virtue of having seen every Creator/AbbottAndCostello movie, and ''Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy'' three times. He even compares one of the odd noises to the sound heard in one movie before Boris Karloff jumped out at Bud & Lou.