I wrote this article because I couldn't really find a good article/documentary discussing the PUA movement without being super gay and cringe in it's delivery, either sneeding about "patriarchy" or telling you to go "MGTOW bro" instead. The following is an abstract of the history of the "Pickup artist community."

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Even though nearly every user on rDrama is a raging homosexual,

some of us have been cursed with a preference for the "fairer s*x." For some of us straggot moids out there, talking to women comes naturally, or we are at least able to overcome our social r-sluration enough to become a somewhat suitable mate. Unfortunately, for an increasing amount of young men, the touch of a woman seems to exist as an unattainable, unknowable enigma. Many of these spurned males, in their sexual frustration, can develop a deep animus towards all of womenkind, and become "incels." Other men may have more middling success, but become disillusioned with the concept of dating and marriage itself, and get on the highway to "MGTOWn." Both of these communities have become quite prominent pillars of the online "manosphere." While these communities are relatively new on the Internet, another "manosphere" community has been online for over 20 years.

The "seduction," or "pick up community," is a collection of neurodivergent men who attempt to overcome their unfortunate s*x lives by donning rockstar personas, dressing like anime characters, and approaching random women in clubs or in public using silly questions, word games, and other cringe shenanigans like "accidently" hitting them. The community has undergone changes in philosophy, tactics, and scope over the years due to changes in social norms, technology, and leadership within the PUA community. The movement would hit the mainstream in the mid 2000s, but by the late 2010s, had largely retracted into the underground once more, but with a new life on tiktok.

While books about picking up women have existed since the 70's, the modern "seduction community" would begin around the late 80's with a man named Ross Jeffries, considered by some to be the "godfather of the pickup community." He would teach courses in "Neuroliguistic programming," or NLP. Basically a combination of hypnosis and psychology. "Students" would study under Jeffries before starting their own pickup gathering spots in their cities, sometimes called "lairs" or "lounges." In the 90's, a real estate agent named David DeAngelo would create a more comprehensive approach to dating and relationships, emphasizing self-improvement and the "cocky/funny" personality.

With the rise of the Internet throughout the 90s, websites would emerge that would feature independent writers, discussing and self-publishing their methods for approaching women, usually in the form of articles or eBooks. One of the most notable of these websites was pickupguide.com, which featured a bevy of free articles for aspiring "Don Juans." These articles would be compiled into a comprehensive, 300-page academic publication, titled, "HOW TO LAY GIRLS GUIDE" also known as "The Lay Guide." This foundational text of sacred knowledge would fall into the hands of a balding manlet who would go on to become the posterboy of the PUA movement. A man known as "Style."

THE GAME

In 2001, Neil Strauss was an AFC. As you can see, Neil looks like a LVM. His hair looks like he fell down headfirst onto a pile of freshly shorn pubes. Despite his career as a Rolling Stones contributor, where he would regularly rub shoulders with rockstars, actors, and other interesting characters, Neil was remarkably unremarkable. The woman he spent the most time with in his entire life (besides his mom) was Marilyn Manson, and the last person to kiss him was Tommy Lee. Neil wasn't a virgin, but he never saw himself as attractive.

He would try to turn a one-night stand into a two-year relationship because he didn't know when he was going to luck out again. He had maybe only 5 or 6 partners up to this point, and had been single for quite a while.

One fateful day, Neil would receive a call from his editor, Jeremie Ruby-Strauss (no relation) asking him to read and write an article about "The Lay Guide." Neil would be intrigued by this request, and upon reading the first few pages of this document, something in Neil's tumbleweed-butt lookin' head clicked.

The Rolling Stones writer thought back to his younger days. After graduating college, Neil's friend Marko had introduced him to a dude named Dustin, who was what we would call, a "natural." Dustin was a true AMOG. He could "DHV" with ease, pick up on "IOIs , "isolate", and "close." He had never shown shyness around women, he just always seemed to know EXACTLY what to do. Dustin had lost his virginity at the age of 11 to his 15 year old babysitter, and had been fricking women ever since. He would even frick people's girlfriends, it didn't matter to him.

Dustin was somehow born with the knowledge that had eluded Neil his entire teenage and adult life. Neil had always assumed you either had "it" or you didn't, but here "it" all was, laid out right here in front of him. These men knew what Dustin knew, and they were willing to teach anyone willing to learn. An entire world was opening up right in front of Neil's giant shnoz and beady little eyes. He would devour these texts, being introduced to an entirely new lexicon:

PUA GLOSSARY

"Pickup" features TONs of r-slurred terminology to set themselves apart from normal men who also like to have s*x with women for fun. This is to signal to eachother that despite trying to appear like an "player" to strangers, they are still neurodivergents at their core.

AMOG - "Alpha Male of Group" These are the chads that used to bully PUAs in highschool, and have forever been the archnemesis of PUAs everywhere. A PUA will begin opening a set when the AMOG will spot him and make fun of him for being dressed like a lesbian, causing the women to laugh at him and remember the natural social order.

AMOGGING - Defeating/disarming, or "Mogging" the AMOG, usually by telling a funny story to endear him to you, or roasting him in front of everyone else to get a laugh and lower his social value.

AFC - Average frustrated chump.

Closing/Close - Getting a girl's number/setting up a time to meet again after first contact. Kissing a girl is called a "kiss-close, fricking the girl is called a "full-close."

DV - Domestic violence. That's right, sometimes to sweep a woman off her feet, you first need to SWEEP THE LEG. Just kidding, it means "Demonstrate Value."

DHV - Demonstration of higher value.

DLV - Demonstration of lower value.

Field - Anywhere one could harass pick up women in public.

Field Report - After any public interaction with a female, the online "pickup artist" will rush to his favorite forum and write up an neurodivergently long effortpost on every nauseating detail of the interaction.

Game - Your methods of approaching/talking to women. This is broken down into Outer Game, which emphasizes your outward behavior, and your Inner Game, which is your mindset HVM grindset.

HB - "Hot babe," usually followed by a number rating, such as HB8.7, to denote a "Hot Babe" that has been registered as an "8.7 of of 10"

IOI - "Indicators of Interest" if a woman does any of these things near you: Touching her hair, laughing at your lame joke, blinking, or breathing oxygen, it means SHE WANTS YOUR BALLS INSIDE HER.

IOD - Indicators of disinterest. See below:

Isolate - Moving your target to another area alone, away from her fat friends that are trying to protect her from you.

Kino - While you and I know 'kino" to mean a lovely piece of moving picture magic, in the pickup community, it means "touching."

Kino Escalation - Physical escalation.

HVM (High Value Male) - Dramatards should be familiar with this one (as they are ALL HVMs).

LMR - Last minute resistance. It's when a woman has a moment of lucid thought after being courted by a PUA.

LVM (Low Value Male) - Dramatards should be familiar with this one as well ()

Negging - Teasing a woman you are interested in. Many aspiring pickup guys will not understand how this works and straight up insult random women, which makes for some excellent cringekino. Women hate neggers.

Obstacle - Fat ugly friends that try to stop you. Also can be male friends, or the target girl's boyfriend/husband/"partner."

Opener - A "usually canned" opening line you say to women to begin your set.

Pawn - An attractive woman that you parade around to demonstrate high value for yourself (usually unbeknownst to her).

Peacocking - Dressing like an r-slur for attention.

PUA - Pickup neurodivergent artist.

Sarging - Going out and harassing approaching women.

Set - A group of people that a pickup artist approaches, usually in a social gathering. A group of 2 people is called a "two set," three is called a "three set," etc. It is recommended to not approach a woman by herself.

Shit Test - If you play D&D, you can think of this as a "Charisma check." A woman will give you shit to see how you react.

Wing - Wingman. It's a word commonly used outside of the PUA community, but in the community, your "wing" holds a special significance. They are like a brother, rival, mentor, and occasional spit-roast partner. Choosing a good wing is VITAL to having solid game.

Workshop - Paying a pickup artist (usually thousands of dollars) to hang out with them and learn how to be a douchebag.

There are other terms not listed, but they are either frequently used in English vernacular, or used enough on this insane website that I have omitted them. Anyway...

Neil became a man obsessed with this underground society. He would begin seeking out online seduction groups and reading field reports. He would read articles by Juggler, a stand up comic, David X, a construction worker, Rick H, a millionaire, and Steve P, (apparently women pay him to suck his peepee). He would also frequently read posts on MSN groups. He would soon find his way into the digital pickup lair, "Mystery's Lounge". A magician from Toronto who wrote over 3,000 detailed effortposts about his exploits, discoveries, and theories, "Mystery" would pioneer many aspects of the "pickup theory." and also coined many commonly used pickup terms, such as "group theory" and "IOI." He had become a legendary figure in the online seduction community, writing field reports of banging models and strippers in the Toronto area, all while being only 31 and still living with his parents.

In October of 2001, Mystery would begin offering workshops for $500 for aspiring pickup artists. Neil would attend his first workshop in Los Angeles, where they would spend 4 days together. This would be the beginning of a very powerful friendship.

"STYLE"

Neil would arrive at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel to meet his PUA senpai for the first time. Mystery was a very tall, gaunt man with pale skin and black fingernails, and was wearing a top hat and a loose fitting black suit. Neil described Mystery as "a computer geek that got bitten by a vampire and was midway through the transformation." Neil would also meet Mystery's wing, a short, intense looking man named "Sin." Also in attendance was "Extramask," a gangly but handsome 26 year-old virgin, and "Sweater," a 45 year old Australian guy wearing a cosby sweater. Neil would hit the town with his wingmen in a white limousine, approaching women, getting rejected, and learning "The Mystery Method."

MYSTERY METHOD:

Preparation: Dress like an r-slur, this is known as "peacocking," which Mystery was extra famous for.

This shows people that you do whatever you want and don't give a shit. Also, stand up straight and smile everywhere you go. A smile shows people that you are a "somebody." Have a good sense of humor. Have a friendly, relaxed disposition. Have some good openers handy, and have your supplies ready:

• Gum (to neg women with).

• Condoms (idk what these are used for).

• Pen, paper (for writing down phone numbers, or taking notes like a sperg).

• Camera

• Props. This can include: cheap necklaces ("This is a really special necklace of mine, but I want to give it to you"), trinkets, sunglasses, shit to do magic tricks with, etc.*

THE METHOD

STEP 1. Smile when you walk into a room. See the group with the target and follow the three-second rule. Do not hesitate—approach instantly.

STEP 2. Recite a memorized opener, if not two or three in a row.

STEP 3. The opener should open the group, not just the target. When talking, ignore the target for the most part. If there are men in the group, focus your attention on the men.

STEP 4. Neg the target with one of the slew of negs we've come up with. Tell her, "Its so cute. Your nose wiggles when you laugh." Then get her friends to notice and laugh about it.

Use this helpful diagram made by Mystery if you are an aspie aspiring negger.

STEP 5. Convey personality to the entire group. Do this by using stories, magic, anecdotes, and humor. Pay particular attention to the men and the less attractive women. During this time, the target will notice that you are the center of attention. You may perform various memorized pieces like the photo routine, but only for the obstacles.

STEP 6. Neg the target again if appropriate. If she wants to look at the pictures, for example, say, "Oh my god, she's so grabby. How do you roll with her?"

STEP 7. Ask the group, "So, how does everyone know each other?" If the target is with one of the guys, find out how long they've been together. If its a serious relationship, eject politely by saying, "Pleasure meeting you."

STEP 8. If she is not spoken for, say to the group, "I've sort of been alienating your friend. Is it all right if I speak to her for a couple of minutes?" They always say, "Uh, sure. If its okay with her." If you've executed the preceding steps correctly, she will agree.

STEP 9. Isolate her from the group by telling her you want to show her something cool. Take her to sit with you nearby. As you lead her through the crowd, do a kino test by holding her hand. If she squeezes back, its on. Start looking for other IOIs.

STEP 10. Sit with her and perform a rune reading, an ESP test, or any other demonstration that will fascinate and intrigue her.

STEP 11. Tell her, "Beauty is common but what's rare is a great energy and outlook on life. Tell me, what do you have inside that would make me want to know you as more than a mere face in the crowd?" If she begins to list qualities, this is a positive IOI.

STEP 12. Stop talking. Does she reinitiate the chat with a question that begins with the word "So?" If she does, you've now seen three IOIs and can kiss close.

STEP 13. Kiss close. Say, out of the blue, "Would you like to kiss me?" If the setting or circumstances aren't conducive to physical intimacy, then give yourself a time constraint by saying, "I have to go, but we should continue this." Then get her number and leave.

-Mystery, the Mystery Method Course handout, 2001.

After about 4 days of bothering random women in Los Angeles, Mystery and Sin would see a lot of promise in Neil, who would write a glowing review in their MSN group. Neil also put out a call for a wing in Los Angeles. The very same day. he would get a message from "Grimble," and the two, along with his buddy "Twotimer," would begin sarging together in LA. It was during this time that Neil would be introduced to Ross Jeffries, the hypnneurodivergent guy who developed "Speed Seduction" in 1988, after going through a dry spell lasting five years. Jeffries would demonstrate his hypnautism to Neil, who would add it to his list of abilities. Jeffries would also sneed about Mystery and David DeAngelo, his former students (he didn't like other "gurus").

At this point, it had been a few weeks since the workshop with Mystery. Neil had grinded up all sorts of XP in LA as a PUA. He had even winged with Sin after Mystery departed back to Toronto. In late october, while sarging at a strip mall, Sin would be sarged himself by the US Military, where he was recruited to sign up as an officer in the Airforce. This posed an issue, as Mystery was planning on doing another workshop in December, but his wing would not be available.

Mystery would reach out to Neil and ask if he would be interested in being his new wing. Neil would gladly oblige. Mystery would also mention that writers are lame and at the bottom of the social ladder, and that he wouldn't be caught dead with Neil Strauss, the writer. If he was going to be a REAL PUA, he needed a fake persona like the rest of them.

"You are no longer Neil Strauss. When I see you in there, I want you to be someone else. You need a seduction name, Styles?"

"How about Style?"

"Style it is. Mystery and Style."

EUROTRIP

The two would go to Belgrade, Serbia together to meet an old college friend of Style's, named Marko. Marko had actually introduced Style to his friend Dustin, the "natural."

After holding a workshop for some Europoors, the three would go on a roadtrip throughout Eastern Europe. Style was excited to be out on the open road with a WHOLE CONTINENT to explore with the greatest pickup artist in the world, right?

Well this may not be a surprise to you all, but Style was shocked when it turned out a guy that calls himself "Mystery" was a gigantic fricking manchild (NO WAY) Mystery would spend the entire trip essentially as dead weight, only talking about super grandiose plans for a Vegas magic show. While driving through Pridnevkhgsdfliahovskaia or whatever the heck it's called in a shitty part of Eastern Europe (it doesn't matter) they would get stopped at some kind of military checkpoint. They would be held at gunpoint, with Mystery continuing to blather on about his gay magic act, competely oblivious to the situation. Style would begin to lose his shit at Mystery, telling him to open his fricking eyes. This would set Mystery off, threatening to fight Style while their car was being surrounded.

To defuse the situation, and out of pity, Style would apologize to Mystery. As their driver Marko got out of the car to pay the bribe required to pass through the checkpoint, Mystery would open up about his childhood, explaining that he had a very strained relationship with his father. His dad was a very violent man, an alcoholic German immigrant, who hated his older brother for being gay. His mother would overcompensate for this by spending more of her time and attention with her older brother. Mystery Young Erik would often be neglected as a child as a result, and turned to magic as an outlet after seeing a kid in his class performing a card trick.

"MYSTERY"

Once described by youtuber "Chris James" as a cross between "Criss Angel" and "Willy Wonka," "Mystery" began his young adulthood not as a ladies man, but chasing his dream: being a magician. By the age of 21, Erik von Markovik had some success in his professional life, landing some gigs and even a TV spot doing magic. Unfortunately, like most magicians, Erik was still a virgin. To him, the "one of the greatest mysteries is the mind of a woman."

He would begin taking the bus to downtown Toronto each day, going to bars, coffee shops, book stores, etc., getting rejected left and right. He would experiment with different approaches, and did this all without the help of the online forums or community. According to Mystery, it took him ten years to figure out his method of attracting women. After finding perfecting his " mystery method" Erik would be transformed into "Mystery."

While Mystery was skilled in attracting women, he lacked the ability to form meaningful, healthy relationships with them. He had a long-term on/off girlfriend for about four years, but they had fought constantly and split up shortly before the trip to Europe. Mystery also had a pattern of self-destructing and throwing world class manbaby tantrums, showing that he needed to be the center of attention all the times, whether it positive or negative.

Mystery would have a series of mental breakdowns during his tenure with Style.

"INTERNATIONAL PLAYBOY"

Style would return from Europe and begin the next phase of his education. He would meet and stay with Steve P, another hypnneurodivergent, and learn his weird blowjob hypnosis shit. He would meet Ross Jeffries for the second time, and also attend a seminar ran by David DeAngelo. Style really didn't seem to prefer one philosophy of "seduction" over another, instead choosing to learn from all the different "gurus." Style would become well rounded in this regard, really beginning to establish himself during this time as a world class pickup artist, travelling with Mystery to Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Montreal, San Francisco, and Chicago. to run workshops. Every time they left a city they ran a seminar in, a lair would pop up, if there wasn't one already.

"AVISHA"

After watching his PUA brother and wingman "Grimble" win on an episode of a dating TV show, and celebrating with him at the bar, Style would return home the next day from some lady's house. As he approached his apartment, he would find his old friend Dustin at his place. What a pleasant surprise!

Dustin would inform Style that he had become celibate, converted to Judaism, and lives in a Yeshiva (lil village) in Jerusalem now! He realized that banging random women was just filling a void in his life, and that what he needed was God, so he set out to find him. He also now went by his Hebrew name, "Avisha." Style was about to tell "Avisha" about his new life as a pickup artist, but the austere religious scholar informed Style that he had already known of his exploits. Their mutual friend Marko had told him.

"I promoted and dragged you into this whole pickup thing, as if what I was doing were the highest ideal a person could live for," he went on.

"So, to whatever extent I am guilty of affecting the natural goodness of your soul, I am deeply sorry."

Neil was floored. This ALPHA CHAD had been buck broken by his own hedonistic lifestyle of drugs and women, and decided to leave it all behind. Not only that, he had felt responsible for Neil's transformation into "Style," a man who's entire existence became hitting on women for a living.

Styler protested. Pickup had truly had opened many doors for him. His social life exploded, he had all these new friends, and men even looked up to him the way he once looked up to the man formerly known as Dustin. Dustin looked at Neil with a softness, saying he would always be there for him. The two friends bid eachother farewell after a few days, promising to stay in touch.

SWEATER IN 'STRALIA

Style and Mystery would travel to Australia to visit their buddy "Sweater," who was doing very well for himself. He wasn't living the "pickup lifestyle," he had instead used his seduction skills to meet a woman and have a long-term girlfriend. His appearance improved. He went from dressing like a dork to having a sense of style. He would also use his newfound social skills to expand his real estate business.

"I'm still having fun helping the guys here get girls, but I'm off the market," Sweater said when we asked how he felt about his decision to settle down with one woman.

"And as far as I'm concerned, I'm getting out at the top. I've come to understand that without commitment, you cannot have depth in anything, whether it's a relationship, a business, or a hobby."

• "Sweater," Neil Strauss's "The Game, 2005

Style was very happy for Sweater, but Mystery would lament the lack of companionship in his life. He had a girlfriend of about four years named "Patricia," but she wanted to get married and have kids. Mystery wanted to do magic tricks and have two bisexual girlfriends that doubled as magic assistants, so the the two didn't share the same outlook for their relationship, needless to say.

After returning from Australia, Mystery and Style would do a rare one-on-one workshop with a young Chinese Canadian college student named "Nick Kho." This fateful encounter would change the course of the pickup community forever.

"PAPA"

"There were three types of people who signed up for the workshops. There were guys like Exoticoption from Belgrade, who were normal and well-adjusted socially, but wanted to have greater flexibility and choice in meeting girls. There were guys who were uptight and set in their ways, like Cliff, who couldn't even handle having a nickname like everybody else. They tended to gather as much knowledge as they could but had trouble making even the smallest behavioral change. And then there were people like Papa—approach machines who compensated for a lack of social skills with a lack of social fears. Approach machines tended to improve the fastest, simply by following the flowchart of material they were given. But once they ran out of material, they floundered." - "Style," Neil Strauss's "The Game, 2005

A pre-law student, and son of a wealthy University President, Nick Kho, later to be known as "Papa," was very socially inept. Upon meeting Nick, and asking him about himself, the young student would flex his status as chair of his fraternity, as well as his Dad's position and income. Style and Mystery promptly told him that flexing your Daddy's accomplishments to "qualify" yourself to people is "low value male" shit. He nodded neurodivergently.

Style and Mystery would begin their workshops with giving their students their first impression. It wasn't to be a peepee, or to make fun of them, but to identify their bad habits when it comes to interaction. The goal isn't to change your personality, but to make sure you can be the BEST version of yourself. What Papa lacked in charisma and looks, he made up for in willpower/ autism. He would record every single interaction with the two pickup gurus, later transcribing and memorizing all of their material. "Papa" would learn remarkably fast in the next few days, all by using the lines that were given to him by Style and Mystery. The two were amazed in how a socially inept college student could command the attention of women by using the same canned lines over and over, and in such short order. It was also blackpilling, as they realized that pickup lines weren't "training wheels," they were the bike itself.

"I should have recognized the signals then. I should have realized what was going on. This wasn't teaching; it was cloning. Mystery and I were traveling around the world making miniature versions of ourselves. And we would soon pay for it." - "Style," Neil Strauss's "The Game, 2005

CONFIDENCE

Patricia was finally tired of Mystery's "tricks," and decided to pull a disappearing act of her own. Mystery would encounter his ex while out "sarging." He would lament that his ex-girlfriend had moved on and started dating other men, and this sent him into a spiral.

Mystery would take down his website and shut himself in his room, refusing to go out. This would put the entire online community in a crisis of confidence. Style would receive a call from Papa, telling him that he "felt the same way as Mystery," as "game" had consumed his entire life, and there wasn't room for anything else. Papa still needed to get into law school, but hadn't opened a book in months since he got into "pickup." This community had a way of taking over people's lives. Another PUA, "Adonis," was fired from his job after if was revealed how much time he spent on the forums while on the clock. Some people in the community were even quitting their jobs to "sarge" full time with other internet PUA, seeing it as lifestyle, instead of a hobby.

After Mystery was committed to a mental institution for threatening to murder his father and then himself, Style would travel to Croatia on his own to sarge with some new Europoors. At this point, he was considered the number one pickup artist in the world, with other members of the community clamoring to meet and sarge with him.

Papa would abandon his pledge to attend law school, instead going on a cross country roadtrip, meeting PUA gurus and students much in the same way that Style had after his return from Belgrade. He would meet David X, "Maddash," Juggler, and travel along the west coast meeting and networking with other pickup enthusiasts. Of all the men he met, it was a fellow Canadian college student that would become his lifelong friend and business partner.

"TYLER DURDEN"

Pictured here on the right, with "Taboo" from "Black Eyed Peas."

"Tyler Durden," also known as Owen Cook, was a philosophy major at Queens University in Ontario. Growing up, he was often made fun of for his stature and awkwardness. Growing up with Asperger's, Owen struggled to be successful with girls in high school. In college, Owen would meet and start dating his first serious girlfriend, but when the relationship came to an end, Owen was devastated, even dropping out of school. He took to the internet for advice on what to do, which led him to the seduction community.

Tyler took to the boards like an aggressive yeast infection, reading all of the relevant information from all of the prominent powerusers. After a few months, he would begin pooping out his very own posts about his sexploits, along with theories and field reports, attracting a small but dedicated online following. Tyler Durden developed his own method for breaking the ice with women, an idea he dubbed "Project Mayhem." Instead of saying "hi" to a woman, to greet her, the strategy is to lightly body-check, hit with an object, or otherwise physically accost her in a playful manner.

Tyler was quite a provocateur, and liked the subversive side of pickup. His particular brand of "game" was very aggressive and emphasized tearing down other men socially, or "AMOGGING." He and Papa would go on to become the face of the pickup movement in the 2010s.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Mystery had returned, and "with new cognitive models." Style was relieved to no longer have to be the "AMOG PUA," as that as too much pressure. Mystery had told Style of a new idea he had to take pickup to the next level.

"I've given it a great deal of thought," [Mystery] went on. "I only get depressed when I isolate myself. Look at what got me there: the pair-bond break with Patricia, new hotties staling and blurring, no career momentum, and being alone in the apartment with no one to talk to. So we need to design a social environment with people to motivate me—something like Sweater's place in Australia. We can all motivate each other. While I was at the hospital, I took a lot of notes on this idea. I showed them to my psychiatrist. Even he was impressed. I'm calling it Project Hollywood."

"I shine," he went on. "I see this now. I'm a superstar, just like I'm tall. I'm simply a superstar who's been holding himself back. And I'd like you to come be a star with me."

• "Mystery," Neil Strauss's "The Game, 2005

Mystery would ask Style to accompany him on a three month tour of Europe and the US doing workshops. At this point, Style had abandoned any future plans to go on any trips with Mystery, as the man was too mentally unstable, and Style was sick of playing babysitter. Style would tell Mystery he couldn't make the commitment, as he was dating eight different women in the LA area. Mystery would instead go with two up and coming PUA: Papa and Tyler Durden.

The duo had been staying in Toronto with Mystery, and would consume all of Mystery's knowledge over the next few weeks after his release from the hospital. When their tour brought them to LA, the two would arrive at Style's doorstep.

Style took Papa and Tyler out to dinner, and despite his best efforts, couldn't bring himself to like Tyler.

The two would meet, accompanied by Papa. Style would note that Tyler was irritating as frick to be around. He was one of those people that would talk and talk without actually saying anything. He wouldn't discuss anything but pickup, and had a grating personality.

Tyler and Papa would begin their own seduction workshop, called Real Social Dynamics. This would piss off Mystery, who had already called his workshop "Social Dynamics." The two would copy Mystery's business model to a T, including having the same price and schedule. They even used Mystery's client list. Mystery had spent too much time being an neurodivergent himbo and doing card tricks to learn what an NDA was, and because of that, his proprietary business model was essentially cannibalized by the two young Canadian Casanovas.

While Mystery only had six students per workshop at a time, Tyler and Papa would take dozens. They would feature students as instructors, and they built a community in a way Mystery could only dream of. Despite this, Mystery still let the two stay in his apartment and glean any trade secrets they could from the naive magician.

They weren't alone. There were now PUA doing workshops all around the world. This movement was growing, and the momentum would only ramp up in the coming years.

THE ULTIMATE AMOG

In 2004, Style would write an article detailing his experience in the "pickup lifestyle," which was published in the New York Times. His intention was to kill off his pickup persona, but it seemed to have the opposite effect, shining more light and interest on the burgeoning subculture. Shortly afterwards, Rolling Stones would contact "Neil," telling him that they were doing a cover story on a famous actor, and that he had asked for him by name after reading his article in "The Times."

Style would meet Tom Cruise, whom he described as the Ultimate AMOG. Tom Cruise's presence was immense, as everything he said and did was BASED. Cruise told Style that he believes in learning new things, doing the work required of him, and doesn't "hold counsel" with other people when he makes decisions. He decides for himself. Style was humbled by the experience. Tom Cruise, out of all the people he had met in the last few years, we the only man who seemed to have his head on straight, and was AUTHENTIC in everything he said and did.

Cruise's belief system stemmed from his significant involvement in the "Church of Scientology," an organization that a thousand sneedium posts could be written about. He give Style a tour of the Chuch of Scientology Celebrity Center in Hollywood, where Style watched Scientologists use soup cans to detect their alien-ghost readings. The temple, despite peddling obvious bullshit, had an air of authority to it. It was like pickup in a way. The church wouldn't be able to exist without recruitment.

Tom Cruise would try to recruit Style into Scientology, but the writer had already found his church. It just needed to be built.

PROJECT HOLLYWOOD

One of Mystery's disciples, "J-Dog" (pictured below) along with "Papa," would help finance the leasing of a large house in the Hollywood hills. This house would be the foundation of their movement. This would be "Project Hollywood," their headquarters for the seduction movement. Pickup wasn't just a hobby or advice. It was a lifestyle.

Mystery and Style would move into the house along with a host of up and coming AND established PUA, including:

• Herbal, a dude that's all about hippy shit and wears all white, with silver nail polish.

• Extramask, previously a virgin that had his first workshop with Style, Extramask had since gone on to become an experienced member of the community.

• Papa

• Playboy

These seduction masters would all join forces, starting a joint venture that promised to change the lives of the AFCs that they themselves had once been.

Style was already heard at work with advanced pickup theory, such as working on how to use the power of massages to get into a threeway with two women. He claimed to be dating 10 different women during this time, and was able to get some of them to have threeways with him. With the help of Herbal, Style was also on a "sleep diet," training his body to only need two hours of sleep each day in order to spend more time sarging. He physically looked like shit, but he was getting his peepee wet and was paid to party, so what's the big deal?

Tyler Durden would arrive at "Project Hollywood" and become a resident shortly after. Shortly after arriving, he would discuss his game with Style, telling him that he sometimes introduces himself as "Neil Strauss and that he works for Rolling Stone Magazine." Style thought this was weird as frick that this sperg was pretending to BE him. Tyler would call this "StyleMOGGING."

A few days after settling in, Tyler would travel to Las Vegas with Style and Mystery for a workshop, and the three would spend the night talking to women. Tyler would "AMOG" his fellow PUA, by doing things like calling Style "Elmer Fudd" in front of women he was talking to, talking shit about Mystery to other women, telling them he's an insecure manchild that does magic tricks to get people to like him (I mean he's not wrong).

Style realized at this moment that Tyler Durden was a big time cute twink. While Style would try to elevate himself to be worthy of everyone in the room, Tyler would tear everyone down beneath him. Tyler seemed to be more interested in getting revenge on the Jocks that AMOGGED him in highschool than actually picking up women. When Tyler saw Style make out with a woman that he had failed to pick up, he developed a deep resentment of him.

"THE POINT WAS WOMEN, THE RESULT WAS MEN"

DESPITE the vision of "Project Hollywood" being a world class "lair", awash with nubile, sexy women, it was instead packed with spergs, shitloads of computer programmers, struggling actors, and lonely millionaires.

A batch of these men would arrive every week, and the routine was almost always the same:

• A PUA would take these dudes to the mall to buy platform shoes, tacky outfits, and get a shitty tan.

• After dressing like an LA douche, they would take to the streets on the sunset strip, in packs.

• They would all recite the exact same, stupid lines to "open sets."

• The newly minted "pickup artist" would continue to loiter in and around the house, sometimes with stray partygirls in tow.

Tensions would begin to rise in the house, as Papa's desire to grow the business conflicted with Mystery's desire to have smaller classes more quality workshops. After many trials and tribulations, one woman would come along and bring the whole operation TO IT'S KNEES.

"KATYA"

Every Monday, our brave heroes would call the numbers they had received from the weekend before, to see if they would have any prospective sexual partners for the week. Mystery would make his rounds, calling the numbers from wadded up pieces of paper he had collected from the women he's impressed with his guyliner and cold reading skills. Of these numbers, only one woman would answer the call. She had told Mystery she didn't remember meeting him (BASED).

Katya arrived with her dog, Lily, who promptly took a shit on the carpet (GIGA BASED). After a few days of LMR, she and Mystery would hook up and become and item.

Her and Mystery really hit it off, and became attached at the hip. She would become a sort of "pickup denmother," helping Papa with workshops, helping apply eyeliner to Herbal, and cleaned up after the manchildren that lived in the $12,000 a month mansion. After three weeks, Mystery had decided to pop the question to Katya. She said yes, and the two were "engaged." It didn't take long, however, for Katya to also get tired of Mystery, who was extremely childish and arrogant, and would explode when being told what to do. She would begin hitting on other men in the house to spite Mystery. She especially took a liking to Herbal.

Around this time, Style had made friends with Courtney Love after doing an article on her in Rolling Stone Magazine. She was still absolutely a trainwreck, and got evicted from her apartment shortly after their interview. Style let her stay at "Project Hollywood."

When Courtney was due to appear on 'Jay Leno," she invited Style, Herbal, Mystery, and Katya to tag along. One the way to the studio, Mystery would have a massive shouting match argument with Kayta over the car radio's volume, even getting out of the car while on Rodeo Drive.

This event, along with a pregnancy scare, further drove a wedge between Katya and Mystery. After Mystery told Herbal he was "done with her, you can have her," Herbal IMMEDIATELY hooked up with Katya.

This would inevitably send Mystery into another tailspin, who would approach Style with watery eyes and sneed about "I loved her..."

Style was fed up with Mystery's bullshit, and called him out for being a baby and telling him that he only liked her, and basically every woman in his life, for their body.

Katya would move out and Mystery was told he needed to straighten up and get over this breakup, or he would be out as well.

LISA

While hanging out at the house, Style would meet a tall, statuesque woman named Lisa Leveridge. She was the guitarist in Courtney's band, and had dropped by to see her. She was tough as nails and cool as shit. Style was blown away by her beauty and confidence. She liked "Neil," but wasn't really a big fan of "Style." All of Style's magic seduction tricks didn't seem to work on Lisa, who saw through his act of being "too cool for school." For the first time in over two years, Style felt like an AFC when he was with Lisa.

Style would travel to Miami to sarge with PUA "Vision." While there, he would get phonecalls daily from Tyler, Papa, and others concerned about the state of "Project Hollywood." Mystery had been smashing holes in the wall and threatening people. He would also threaten a guy that showed up at the house to pick up Katya's dog. Mystery was out of control. Even though the house was Mystery's idea, the guy couldn't keep his shit together.

The house would come to a final solution on the Mystery question:

• Katya is not allowed in the house for 2 months. If after those 2 months are up and Katya and Herbal are still together, Katya can come back.

• There would be "Zero Tolerance" for violence in the house. If Mystery threatened Herbal again, he would be gone.

Mystery took this as "SO, YOU'RE KICKING ME OUT OF THE HOUSE," as, "not threatening people" was apparently a dealbreaker for him.

Style was just about done with this pickup shit. What he had envisioned just didn't even come close to the reality of it all. He wanted to be a part of a community that enjoyed women and elevated men. Instead he was stuck being a referee for a bunch of emotionally and socially-stunted men. The house had become a shitshow, literally and socially. The proverbial writing was on (what was left of) the wall. His relationship with Lisa would be the Catalyst for him to leave the lifestyle forever.

STILL NOT A PLAYER

Mystery was moving out. He had plans for a whole new operation, a NEW lair known as "Project Vegas," showing that he clearly didn't learn anything from this entire experience. Style would bid farewell to Mystery. The two had become so close in the last two and a half years. There is nothing that brings two men together quite like the joy of getting laid together. Mystery told Style he would love to have him at his side once again. Style, regrettably told him that he couldn't possibly go through all this again.

"I understand," he said. "Sometimes events turn sour, and we follow bad threads in our lives. I want you to know that, even though we haven't seen eye to eye lately, I will always be your friend, for life and a day. You don't have to manage your relationship with me. Enjoy your girlfriend, and we will always have time to hang out together. You are the most important man in my life."

• "Mystery," Neil Strauss's "The Game, 2005

Extramask would leave as well, deciding to frick off to India and leave the PUA thing behind. Herbal would leave to go be with Katya in Austin. Soon, nearly all of the OG PUA had left save for Papa and Tyler Durden. Style, no, Neil had realized that everyone (save for the RSD spergs) was waking up from this shallow extistence

All the new little sperglets in the house were now fully ignoring Style, who was focused on his relationship with Lisa. With nothing left for him in this life, Neil Strauss left "Project Hollywood," and the lifestyle, forever.

Neil Strauss would publish "The Game" in 2005, and the book became a top-rated effortpost on rDrama New York Times Best Seller for TWO MONTHS. The book blew the lid off the entire operation, and pickup would go mainstream (showing that people really didn't understand the message of the book).

In 2007, Mystery would be featured as the host of the cringekino series, "The Pickup Artist" on Vh1, which lasted for two seasons. I implore you to watch this show if you have the time, it's great.

REAL SOCIAL DYNAMICS

After the old guard had disappeared, Tyler and Papa had their chance to shine. Project Hollywood now existed as their command center. They had the opportunity to shape the community as they saw fit.

Mystery made thousands with his courses. RSD would make millions. They would begin offering online classes on how to attract women, which became extremely successful.

In 2010, they would begin a Youtube channel, "rsdTyler," that would feature aggressive "in-field footage," of Tyler and others grabbing drunk women, getting in pissing matches with men, and being overall super cringe. The channel was one of the first of it's kind on the platform, and quicky generated millions of views per month. Tyler had alot of faith in his product, as he believed pickup could cure depression and anxiety.

RSD would ramp up it's hiring of "coaches" to grow the business from 2006 to 2014. This included:

• Maximillian Burger - A PUA who specialized in dating-app "game."

• "Jeffy" Allen - A failed comic who lives in a van.

• Julian Blanc - An edgelord who would become one of the most popular coaches on the site. He would give lectures on how to put your peepee in a woman's mouth like an ALPHA CHAD AMOG.

JULIAN BLANC

Julian would develop a program, simply called "Pimp," which was a comprehensive guide to meet and frick a girl in the same night. This program would become a massive success, quickly becoming the most popular course on RSD. The community was becoming a sort of self improvement cult, with hordes of young men owing their success with women to the site. The company would struggle to maintain it's edge as the new decade continued, and the site would produce edgier and more sensational content as a result.

In 2014, Julien would release "White Male F*s Asian Woman In Tokyo (And The Beautiful Methods To Do It),"** in which he would discuss how, as a white guy, you can do whatever you want in Japan. Asian-American feminist Jennifer Lee would kickstart the #takedownjulienblanc hashtag, and public pressure would mount against him and RSD as a whole. Their tactics for approaching women bordered on, or were, full on assault. Blanc would also drop this banger of a tweet:

The reality was that everyone at RSD was giving the same style of content as Julien, but he become the lightning rod for the public's criticism. In 2014, Julien would be voted "most hated man in the world" by Time Magazine. Countries and venues would begin banning RSD from holding events, and Julien would even be denied visas to other countries.

RSD was no longer an online movement, they were seen a nuisance that was tricking young men into being cringe weirdos to random women. The media would have a field day reporting on RSD for their "rampant sexism, promotion of r*pe culture, and manipulation of women."

Buzzfeed journos would do a deep dive on the other members of RSD, uncovering jokes about Jeffy's self-described "r*pe van" and Max's guides on how to frick women on tinder. Members of RSD would begin to get accosted in public by angry women full of righteous sneed. It was clear. Being associated with RSD was a scarlet letter, and people began to jump ship. RSD would have no choice but to take down their Youtube videos and pivot into a different type of company, focusing on self improvement.

By 2016, all of the RSD channels had disappeared, with many of the organizations member's becoming life coaches and motivational speakers instead. Many other prominent "pickup" channels would also disappear or rebrand during this time.

THE CURRENT STATE

By 2023, pickup is incompatible with the "radical consent" environment of current year. Although prominent online figures like Sam Hyde sometimes invoke PUA terminology when giving advice on his streams, the community itself has largely become underground once again.

Men's fashion Youtubers like "Teaching Men's Fashion" and "Alpha M." offer dating advice on their channels, but it's mostly conventional dating wisdom.

Tiktok features many fledging content creators showing their strategies for bothering women at the grocery store.

4chan's /fit/ board features an extant PUA community where you may find men discussing theory, along with a host of other dating/life improvement advice.

The truth is that as long as there are women, there will be men who want to learn how to frick them and they will search out any place they can discuss their methods to achieve this end.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I stumbled across "The Game," as a young man, many years ago. I thought it was very eye-opening. I had just been dumped, and found myself in a new city. I saw it as a window into what life could be like. Still, I couldn't bring myself to "neg" women (at least on purpose), dress like a strag, and the online PUA community was cringe. The best success I had with women was "being myself," and once I made an effort to make friends and be active in the community, I didn't see a need to learn about it anymore. I didn't need dumb lines or a bad outfit to meet women.

Several men who become "seduced" by the pickup community are not losers. Many of them have high paying careers and large friend groups. Many are not even unattractive, but never developed the skills or confidence around women, or a sense of style. Some are even normal, non-sperg men who just want more dating options. In most of us, there is a visceral response to the feeling of social rejection, and for some, that paralyzing fear of not wanting to feel like a "creep" prevents us from overcoming social anxiety. Overcoming the fear of rejection is a vital skill not just in love, but in life.

You have to give credit to these men for trying, even if it's in the cringiest way possible.

EPILOGUE

Mystery still offers courses, charging quite a bit more than $500 these days.

Style wrote a book in 2015 called "The Truth," in which he discusses his life after pickup. Neil would struggle with a s*x addiction following his stint as a PUA. He is now a married father.

Tyler looks like shit:

If you've made it this far, you're officially a HVM.

And remember, don't hate the player,

HATE THE GAME