Men have been trying to figure out women forever. Countless books have been written on the subject over the years, but none of them seemed to work. That was until Neil Strauss recently published The Game- Penetrating the Secret Society of the Pick Up Artist. Neil’s best-selling book seems to be the first book that men really latched onto as the savior of the male race.
The book describes Neil’s journey from AFC (average frustrated chump) to PUA (pickup artist). Neil, or Style as he refers to himself in the book, joins an underground community of wannabe PUAs and begins to unlearn everything he knows about women. Once he removes the old beliefs from him, new teachers, gurus, mad scientists and seducers fill his brain with the methods they use.
Mystery, from the Mystery Method, centers his system on the M3 model. This model includes: building attraction, building comfort and seduction. The mystery generates attraction through the use of DHV (Demonstrations of Greater Value). A DHV could simply be a story where the narrator displays a certain characteristic that he wants his listener to pick up on, or it could be a magic trick, a funny joke, or the way he handles target friends and AMOGs. of the group).
In Neil’s book, he offers plenty of examples of openings, routines, and closings that he learned during his time studying with Mystery, David DeAngelo, Ross Jeffries, Juggler, and many other seduction gurus.
Some of the common examples of Neil’s seduction arsenal:
The opinion opener
The cat in a string theory
best friend test
The cube
The double induction massage
The ESP routine
denying the target
the kiss close
C vs. u-shaped smiles
While all of these routines are field tested and work, the question is; How long will they survive now that these routines are becoming common knowledge? How long before the women realize what the man is doing? How long before they’ve heard the exact same opener twice in one night?
Neil Strauss was recently asked this question. Here is his response:
“The fact is that the game will always work. It’s just that some of the wording of the scripts may have to change, and that’s only for those who use the scripts for ‘training’.
For example:
What is one of the most clichéd pickup lines in the world?
The cheesiest and cheesiest?
That’s right: it’s “What’s your sign?”
If you walk up to a girl and say, “What’s your sign?” she’ll know you’re saying a rehearsed line from a bad ’70s TV show.
But guess that? “What’s Your Sign” is almost exactly like the openers and DHV (highest value demos) on The Game.
There was a time when “What’s your sign?” It wasn’t a cheesy way to start a conversation. It was a non-sexual opener: a way to break the ice with strangers without flirting with them. It was a current topic, passionate and interesting. (As Mystery once said, the best topics of conversation are relationships and the unknown.) Also, it was a way to show courage. Instead of saying “let’s go ball” (or whatever the lingo was at the time), you were showing that you were spiritual and had some interesting insight to offer.
In the parlance of the seduction community, it was a neutral entertainment opener with built-in DHV spikes.
And, of course, we all know it’s old-fashioned and cheesy. But isn’t it amazing how within minutes of seventy percent of all conversations with women, a discussion of astrology comes up? He will probably ask you: “What sign are you?” And if you know a lot about astrology, it’s actually a more valuable demonstration.
(Note to logical, empirical, and factual men: don’t say, “I don’t believe in such nonsense.” Cynicism and negativity are two traits to avoid when meeting a woman, even if you think they make you seem “cool.” “)
When I was researching the book, I spent hours in Miami with a PUA named Maddash, who gave me a long tutorial on astrology. He taught me the meaning of all the signs, what the twelve houses were about, how to identify astrological trends in people’s lives, and how to determine sign compatibility.
Whether or not he believed in astrology was irrelevant: he now knew a great deal about it. And it resulted in great conversation, connection, and value when he was meeting people.
So the epiphany I had was, “What’s your sign?” STILL WORKS. It will always work.
Everything will always work. If people find out, all you have to do is change how you say it and maybe when you say it.
For example, if saying, “Hey guys, I need a quick opinion on something” indicates that you’re saying a catchphrase because women read it in a magazine, don’t worry. Just change it to: “I need quick help resolving a debate.” If the opinion openers no longer work, save the question for later in the conversation. I already have three other types of openers that I have come up with and am waiting for the right time to release them. And if I can think of alternatives, I have a feeling YOU can too.
In the big picture, the important thing to remember is: there is no such thing as a pick-up line. The language and wording do not matter. What is important is the intention behind them. The Jealous Girlfriend opening doesn’t work because it’s the Jealous Girlfriend opening, but because it’s a way to start a lively conversation with a group of people without flirting with anyone. So as long as you can do that, you have nothing to worry about.
Knowledge will not change the fundamentals of how women and men are attracted to each other. To make a bad comparison: men who like big breasts tend to be interested in women with fake breasts; they don’t even care that they are NOT REAL. They still turn on the same attraction switches as naturals.”
So Neil obviously thinks it’s the PUA’s responsibility to continue to evolve. He couldn’t agree more. I am quite stunned when I am in a bar and I hear a guy recite word for word a line that he learned in a book. It is one thing to learn principles and build on them with your own personality and experience and another thing to be a social robot.
Websites like TSB Magazine receive tens of thousands of hits every day. I can only hope that the men browsing these sites are looking for education in the deeper understanding of attraction and seduction, and not looking for word-for-word lines to say to women in a bar.