Taught By Experience: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"A learning experience is one that tells you, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.'"''|'''[[Douglas Adams]]'''}}

In [[Video Games]], especially RPGs, this is what they are trying to replicate with [[Experience Points]], especially in the more complicated leveling methods where [[Stat Grinding|performing an action repeatedly gives you more points to allocate to that skill area]].

 

{{examples}}

 

* The first season of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' was a fairly ridiculous case: Nanoha became a mage when she was handed her [[Empathic Weapon]] and defeated the first [[Monster of the Week]]. She does this ''after school'', and without ''any'' training, she's stronger than another talented mage that had been training for his entire life ''within a week''. Then within a few weeks, she's an elite [[Rank Inflation|A rank]] mage firing a [[Wave Motion Gun]] from her staff. The manga actually provided a [[Hand Wave]] that she used said weapon to go through [[Training From Hell]] at all hours of the day.

** Also, it helps that she's crazy talented. Specifically, she's naturally ''powerful'', which means that she can make up for her lack of skill via sheer brute force when she needs to, [[Heroic RROD|though she would pay for doing that too much in time]].

** Ironic as he kept using Pikachu on Team Rocket, despite them using something that's shock proof (which they've done since, what, the fifth time he faced them? Out of [[Over Nine Thousand]]?) As Meowth pointed out in one episode, "You'd think he'd learn by now".

* Generally, most of the cast in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' opt for [[Training From Hell]] (with the occasional [[Awesome By Analysis]]). The former [[Private Military Contractors|private soldier]] Mana Tatsumiya, on the other hand, thanks to [[Child Soldier|a youth spent in combat]], can boast the skills and instincts above what the rest of the warrior-heavy class have managed, befitting a mercenary of her ability. Evangeline also counts, having learned to use magic and her vampiric abilities at age ten, then going from there.

{{quote|''"Surviving for hundreds of years ain't just for show, you know."''|Chachazero}}

* ''[[Scrubs]]'' has this throughout its entire run, but most notably in the first episode where J.D. is afraid to even touch a patient. Dr. Cox became his unwilling mentor when he dropped the cold truth on him and forced him to get the job done.

{{quote| "Four years of pre-med, four years of med school, and tons of unpaid loans have made me realize one thing... I don't know jack."}}

* Inverted with a character on ''[[House (TV)|House]]''. An applicant for House's diagnostic team was revealed to not have actually gone to med school. He worked as a janitor at the college and audited every class multiple times, and so had a large understanding of the textbooks and medical theory. But he never actually worked with patients or was actually trained to do certain procedures, not to mention didn't even have a medical license. Sneaking around that limitation is what led to House figuring out his secret.

** That's not what leads to House firing him, though. He liked the guy. It's just that the janitor had the same ideas as House and thought pretty much along the same lines. And that is not what House wants in an assistant.

* The Dimensional Guardians from the web fiction serial ''[[Dimension Heroes]]'' are more or less bumbling fools when they first stumble upon their Guardian powers, but gradually learn to control them as they fight, to the point that they're able to take down a dark force that threatens their very dimension.

* In ''[[Becoming a Better Writer|Demonic Symphony]]'' this is given as a reason for Derek’s [http://becomingabetterwriter.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/demonic-symphony-scene-029/ continued survival]

 

 

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Taught By Experience]]