Dating 3: The Return of Game
Peacockring
It’s 2008. I’m 18 years old and a virgin. I’m probably playing World of Warcraft. Most of my teenage years blend together, I never did anything but play games. How I Met Your Mother is in its third season. I live in hyperreality created by the media I’m consuming. I’m losing my mind over being a virgin, why, oh why am I such a loser? I get into PUA.
The first book I’ve ever read in my life from start to finish is Neil Strauss: The Game. I watched every video I could find online of the Mystery Method. I put on a suit jacket that was too big for me and went to a bar alone. Coincidentally, there was a guy there waiting for his friends, I knew him from kindergarten, I had a new circle of friends.
Over the next years I was GAMING on- and offline. I got a few kisses using the PUA tactics but I still had autism so I wasn’t a real "player" (thank God). PUA got right into my WoW-quest-dopamine addicted understanding of the world. You had to say certain phrases and it would unlock the next stage. I had to unlock a palm reading trick to get a "kiss-close" by "negging" her five times in ten minutes, if it didn’t work, move on. The palm reading thing was very successful (maybe I’m mandela-effecting myself, but I don’t remember a time it failed). Women love magicians.
We don’t all live the same life. Don’t half of all marriages end in divorce? I think you should cut guys like me some slack. With no father, who was going to teach me how to talk to women? A guy with an awkward tattoo on his neck, painted nails and a big furry sombrero. That’s who.
As you know from the previous two posts in my series on dating: I’m a Tinder user. I go on dates regularly. I had a girlfriend through this app twice. I used to think it’s great and I was actually having fun. I’m a slightly above average looking guy but I have pretty good pictures. I’m a little bit older which helps a lot too. After the past eight months of very serious Tinder use, I’m so sick of it, turning on the app feels like waking up on a Monday to go to work. It’s the same spiel every time.
However, I’m not going to stop using Tinder. I’m in the middle of the third or fourth COVID-lockdown where I live. A lot of people are on dating apps, it feels like everyone I know is on there. The business must be booming. Most relationships I know of started on a dating app, especially in the zoomer generation.
One of the core tenets of PUA is to make yourself stick out from the masses. How many people approach women in bars, let alone on the street nowadays? If you’re just walking up to her, she’s already going to respect your self-confidence. This is very good. You’re already ahead of the guys on Tinder. I’m still minmaxing my Tinder-game: My bio, my pics, already minmaxxed. I’m minmaxing my opener by speaking to her irl.
It’s going to require bravery. I’m brave and, more importantly, good at coping with failure. I’m going to do this alone, so I don’t lose respect with my in-group. My friends would mock me forever if I got rejected once. “Nice Männerbund you got there”.
In my next post on dating I’m going to write about the moves I’ve made and the success I’ve had. Yep, it’s happening: I’m going to become a Pick Up Artist at 32 years old!
