Did Neil Strauss, Author of the Game, Single Handily Destroy the PUA Community?

Did Neil Strauss, Author of the Game, Single Handily Destroy the PUA Community?

Men have been trying to figure women out forever. There have been countless books written on the subject over the years, yet 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 book, a best seller, seems to be the first book that men are truly latching onto as the savior of the male race.

The book describes Neil’s journey from AFC (average frustrated chump) to PUA (pick up artist.) Neil, or Style as he refers to himself in the book, joins an underground community of aspiring PUA’s and begins unlearning everything he knows about women. Once he washes out his old belief new teachers, gurus, mad seducing scientists fill his brain with the methods they use.

Mystery, of the Mystery Method, focuses his system on the M3 model. This model includes: building attraction, building comfort, and seduction. Mystery builds attraction through use of DHVs (demonstrations of higher value.) A DHV could be simply a story in which the storyteller displays a certain characteristic he wants his listener to pick up on, or it could be magic trick, a funny joke, or the way he handles the targets friends and the AMOGs (alpha males of the group.)

In Neils book he gives quite a few examples of openers, routines, and closes that he learned during his time studying with Mystery, David DeAngelo, Ross Jeffries, Juggler, and the many other seduction gurus out there.

Some of the common examples of Neil’s seduction arsenal:
The opinion opener
The cat on a string theory
The Best Friend test
The cube
The dual induction massage
The ESP routine
Negging the target
The Kiss close
C vs. U shaped smiles

While all these routines are field tested and work, the question is; How long will they survive now that these routines are becoming mainstream knowledge. How long before women pick up on what the man is doing? How long before they’ve heard the exact same opener twice in one night?

Neil Strauss was recently posed with this question. Here is his response:

“The fact is, the game will always work. It’s just that some of the wording to the scripts may have to change – and that’s only for those who use the scripts for “training.”

For example:

What’s one of the most cliched pickup lines in the world?

The corniest, cheesiest one?

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 delivering a rehearsed pickup line from some bad 70’s TV show.

But guess what? “What’s Your Sign” is almost exactly like the openers and DHVs (demonstrations of higher value) in The Game.

There was a point when “What’s your sign” was not a corny way to start a conversation. It was a non-sexual opener: a means of breaking the ice with strangers without hitting on them. It was a current topic, exciting and interesting. (As Mystery once put it, the best subjects for conversations are relationships and the unknown.) Furthermore, it was a way of demonstrating value. Instead of saying “let’s ball” (or whatever the lingo was at the time), you were showing that you were spiritual and had interesting knowledge to offer.

In the parlance of the seduction community, it was a neutral entertaining opener with DHV spikes built in.

And, sure, we all know it’s outdated and cheesy. But isn’t it extraordinary how a few minutes into seventy percent of all conversations with women, a discussion of astrology ensues? She’ll probably ask you, “What sign are you?” And if you know a lot about astrology, it’s actually a demonstration of higher value.

(Note to logical, empirical, factual men: Don’t say, “I don’t believe in that bullshit.” 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 what all the signs meant, what the twelve houses were all about, how to identify astrological trends in people’s lives, and how to determine sign compatibility.

Whether or not I believed in astrology was immaterial: I now knew a lot about it. And it made for great conversation, connection, and value when I 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 about it, all you have to do is change the way you say it and perhaps when you say it.

For example, if saying, “Hey guys, I need a quick opinion on something” telegraphs that you’re delivering a pickup line because the women read about it in a magazine, no worries. Just change it to: “I need some quick help settling a debate.” If opinion openers don’t work anymore, save the question for later in the conversation. I already have three other types of openers I’ve come up with that I’m waiting for the right time to release. And if I can come up with alternatives, I’ve got a feeling YOU can too.

In the bigger picture, the thing that’s important to remember is: There is no such thing as a pickup line. The language and wording don’t matter. What’s important is the intent behind them. The Jealous Girlfriend opener works not because it’s the Jealous Girlfriend opener, but because it’s a way to start an animated conversation with a group of people without hitting on anyone. So as long as you can always do that, you’ve got 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: Guys who like big breasts tend to be into women with fake breasts; it doesn’t even matter to them that they’re NOT REAL. They still flip the same attraction switches that natural ones do.”

So Neil obviously thinks that it is the responsibility of the PUA to continue to evolve. I could not agree more. I am quite stunned when I am at a bar and I hear a guy reciting a line word for word that he learned in a book. It is one thing to learn principles and build upon them with your own personality and experience and its another thing to be a social robot.

Websites like TSB Magazine are getting tens of thousands of hits every day. I can only hope that the men surfing these sites are looking for education into the deeper understanding of attraction and seduction, and are not looking for word for word lines to say to women at a bar.