Mystery Method Pickup Approach

noreply@blogger.com (Alexis) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:36:00 +0000

Friday night I went out on the town with the girls--a staple single girl friend and a newly single girl friend--and our guy friend. The four of us started off at Twist, usually a good Belltown location for well-dressed and handsome Seattleites, and ordered our drinks under the lights of the rotating disco pig--Skinny B*tches for the ladies and Scotch on the rocks for the male.

It wasn't too long before a quite good-looking guy approached us and moved in on my newly single girl friend, touching the bracelets on her arm and using all sorts of suave but sometimes cheesy opening lines. He was charming, and if it were me he was after, I would have flirted back. Maybe it was just his dashing good looks, but I was willing to overlook his lines. My newly single girl friend, however, was not.

"That guy was annoying," she later said.

My guy friend agreed. "He was using The Mystery Method by the book!"

"Huh?!" I said. "The Mystery Method?! What the hec is that?"

To which my guy friend clued us in on as apparently being, "a common method men use when approaching girls and starting conversations."

"For example," he started. "Let's say I come up to you and say, 'My friends and I are talking about how women always think David Bowie is hot!' "

"David Bowie is totally HOT!" I screeched at him, interrupting his explanation. "Mmm. Those purple tights in Labyrinth. I had a huge crush on him when I was 10 years old!"

"See! Now we just started a conversation," he retorted. He also explained an approach that is neither a compliment nor an insult, but is meant to simultaneously lower a girls self esteem and feign disinterest, which then in turn makes the beautiful women (who is used to a stream of compliments) intrigued by the guy's disinterest. She then feels the need to make the guy feel otherwise, and suddenly the guy has the beautiful girl flirting with him.

My two single girl friends and I looked at each other with confused looks and agreed in unison that none of us had heard of this "foolproof approach." What is this Mystery Method, and why haven't we heard of it if it is in fact a common-knowledge approach guys use?

At my next available chance, I was quick to Google "The Mystery Method," and sure enough, it was the first Web site to pop up with a tagline of, "Put Women Under Your Spell." Apparently this pickup method was founded by Canadian Erik von Markovik, who was once a Dungeons and Dragons-playing nerd but is now a well-known expert on the art of picking up women. Markovik, who goes by the moniker of Mystery the pickup artist, now leads pickup seminars across the world for a pretty price of $2,950 a person. This pricey and purportedly infallible technique has been covered well-known publications such as "The New York Times," "Marie Claire," "Elle," "The Los Angeles Times," etc.

Apparently I had missed this boat. After reading through some articles, I discovered that it's a method based on humans psychology--not creeping women out, acting disinterested so she then is more interested, paying close attention to body language, etc. I feel so much more enlightened into the world of guys trying to pick me and my friends up at the bar, but I wonder how many guys actually do know about this and use the techniques. Ack! Assuming that I might be considered an approachable woman in a bar, have I fallen victim to it without even knowing!?

Ladies, have you heard about The Mystery Method before? And guys, have you used it, or would you pay $3,000 to learn all the moves that can supposedly turn you from a dating failure to a seasoned PUA (Pickup Artist)?!

Source : Seattlepi.com

Mystery Method

noreply@blogger.com (Alexis) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:10:00 +0000

The Mystery Method is a method of seduction first popularized by Erik Von Markovik a.k.a "Mystery" and subsequently developed by Nick Savoy and other Mystery Method instructors (The Don, Cajun, Tenmagnet, Mr. M, Sheriff, etc.), who have revitalized - in their words - the method into something that works for a wide variety of men, with all kinds of lifestyles. The system was initially outlined in posts on the newsgroup alt.seduction.fast. Since December 2006, Mystery is no longer part of the Mystery Method website, and he has launched his own company, although the Mystery Method has carried on and expanded without him.

Mystery the pickup artist is responsible for coining a lot of terminology now used in the world of seduction, such as "3 second rule", "set", "peacocking", "indicator of interest", "indicator of disinterest", "last minute resistance", "routine", "approach anxiety", "neg hits", "canned material", etc. The Mystery Method is now marketed online, via books, DVD sets, and most notably, live seminars and coaching with various instructors.

Mystery has submitted a patent application for his method, although some members of the seduction community argue that he did not develop the concepts but simply popularized others' contributions. According to unconfirmed reports from the USPTO this is unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. 101.

Basic concepts

The Mystery Method uses the term 'value' to describe the benefit of aligning oneself with a person or group with the potential to improve one's reproductive chances (Replication value) or quality of life (Survival value). The male with the highest Survival and Replication value, in this case the alpha male poses a large possible threat to other males, whereas a very attractive woman possesses high Replication (R) value. According to Mystery, women evaluate potential mates primarily in terms of the Survival (S) value they offer, while men evaluate potential mates in terms of their R value. This viewpoint runs counter to current academic anthropological theory, compare e.g. David Sloan Wilson's Evolution or Stephen Jay Gould's The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. This does, however comply with contemporary evolutionary psychology.

The Mystery Method teaches that people have strong emotional reactions to others with significantly higher value. Men will have an emotional reaction in response to a very attractive women, while women will have an emotional reaction in response to men who display the qualities of the 'Tribal Leader'. This emotional reaction leads to an adrenaline rush, and to demonstrate abnormal behavior around the other person. An exceptionally attractive woman causes this reaction in the majority of men, so the method teaches that she will subconsciously believe that any male who appears emotionally nonreactive to her is of higher value than she, and she will become attracted to him.

Many of the techniques taught as part of the method are ways for the user to demonstrate high 'value'. Examples include story-telling with embedded (but well-concealed) displays of higher social value, appearing emotionally nonreactive to 'targets', and showing that the user is 'preselected' by other women. These techniques, along with many others, are taught as part of the 'M3 Model'.

The rhetoric and vocabulary underpinning Mystery Method borrows heavily from Evolutionary Psychology - for instance 'love' as an objective of human sexual relationships is replaced with pair bonding, which he defines as a strong bond between two individuals which is based on the subconscious desire to raise their Survival and Replication values.

On Valentine's Day, February 14, 2008, the U.S. patent application for "Interpersonal Pursuit Method" was published. The application was filed by Mystery on August 10, 2006. Other prominent members of the seduction community have announced that they plan to oppose this application.

The M3 Model

The Mystery Method M3 Model is divided into 3 steps: Attraction, Comfort and Seduction, each of which is divided into 3 phases. The Method teaches a set of strategies and tactics for each phase to successfully move the interaction forward toward the end goal, which is the creation of an intimate sexual relationship.

Step 1: Attraction

The goals of the 'Attraction' phase are: to start a conversation with the target ('Opening'); demonstrate high 'value' to the 'target' in order to build her attraction to the pickup artist ('Female to Male interest'); and to appear to become increasingly attracted to her, for reasons other than her looks, while making her increasingly invested in the interaction (Male to Female interest). There are many attraction switches that can be triggered in the female by demonstrations of, for example:

1. Being preselected by other women; you must therefore have value for the target woman as well
2. Being a leader of men
3. Being the protector of loved ones
4. Having a willingness to emote
5. Being a successful risk-taker
6. Grooming

In some earlier products, Mystery replaces "Being a successful risk-taker" with "A willingness to walk away". Indicators of successful attraction will include the brushing of hair, scratching of wrist, forearm, shoulder and face. Mystery Method currently sells the e-book Magic Bullets as its flagship product, which has a different list. This list includes: Health, Social Intuition, Humor, Wealth, Status, Confidence, Being a Challenge, and Pre-selection.

Step 2: Comfort

In the 'Comfort' phase, the pickup artist attempts to establish rapport, trust, connection and a sense that the interaction is real and genuine. According to the Mystery Method, "the game is played in comfort". It is the longest and most crucial step and generally takes several hours, possibly over the course of several days, to complete. Mystery writes that of the average 4 to 10 hours (cumulatively) it takes to build a connection sufficient for the initiation of a sexual relationship, as much as 90% will be spent in the comfort-building phase.

Step 3: Seduction

The 'Seduction' phase is the physical escalation towards sex and dealing with a woman's natural apprehension towards sex with a new partner. It also includes dealing with Last Minute Resistance (LMR), for which the Mystery Method advocates freeze-outs in which the pickup artist agrees with the resistance ("you're right, we shouldn't be doing this"), withdrawing and re-directing the situation to something boring like playing cards or table tennis.

'Negs'

Media attention directed towards the Mystery Method often mentions the concept of 'negs' as an example of what the method teaches. The oft-quoted example is the comment:

* "Nice nails, are they real? No? Oh, well they're nice anyway."

Negs are intended to be false disqualifiers and are intended to lower the target's comparative value to the seducer. Specifically, they are not insults; instead, they resemble the comments of a person who does not view the target as being sexually interesting.

In his television interview with The View, Neil Strauss explains that some men will demonstrate lack of interest by passively ignoring a woman; but since she does not notice him, she will not know that he is not interested. Therefore the purpose of the neg is to actively demonstrate lack of interest by disqualifying one's self as a suitor ("It's too bad I'm gay or you'd be so my type"), or by falsely disqualifying the target ("You are too much of a nice girl for me").

According to the method, a proper neg never makes the target feel insulted or degraded, but rather questions whether the man approaching her has fallen under her spell. Women of particular beauty often tend to assume males approaching them are interested in them solely as a result of their looks, and negs attempt to neutralize that assumption by demonstrating that the man is not (yet) interested in her, despite her beauty. A successful neg may cause the target to feel self-conscious and attempt to regain control of the situation by qualifying herself.

Another often overlooked aspect of negs is the fact that they can be nonverbal. A neg may consist of a roll off (using disinterested or distracted body language), wandering off, initiating conversation with a new third party, checking one's cell phone, or looking around the room as if looking for someone better to talk to.

Disqualification theory

Disqualification Theory is an expansion of the neg. It is a social tactic based on the idea that what a woman can't have, she wants more. It is a large part of indirect game as it can disarm a woman by keeping her from thinking that the man is hitting on her. It can correlate to preselection theory as well; if a man is taken, he is like a forbidden fruit to other women.

A disqualifier is the direct application of the disqualification theory. Examples of disqualifiers:

* "If I weren't gay, you'd be my type."
* "I've got something to tell you...there's something in your teeth."

Source : Wikipedia

Mystery Method in Focus

Mystery Method Pickup Approach

Mystery Method