Look around Reddit and almost anywhere else and you will encounter a whole bunch of negativity when it comes to game, pickup, seduction, whatever you want to call what's going on in here. "Just be yourself" and "Have confidence" and other such useless sayings spew from detractors' mouths. "Gaming is creepy and pathetic and unnecessary. Just talk to her!"

See here's the thing. Social skills are called SKILLS for a reason. They can be improved. Most people have average social skills so they feel improving them isn't needed. They're okay looking and can get a girlfriend or two and maybe get laid a few times a year so they're content. Some of the less experienced people on this sub would even be happy with that, but that doesn't mean these average guys couldn't become fuckin electric if they wanted to. That's where game comes in. There's always room for improvement, and relating with women is no different.

Some guys are born better looking, more athletic, funnier, taller, more charismatic and so forth. Maybe just one of the above. We were all dealt different genetic hands. No matter how much somebody improves their athletic ability they will never be LeBron, but that doesnt mean they can't get a whole lot better if they practiced.

I didn't become a good basketball player by accident. I was always athletic, but shooting around in my driveway growing up for multiple hours a day made me a very good shooter. I didn't "be myself" into being able to rain threes like a boss. In the same way a guy can improve his social skills.

You see this huge stigma when it comes to seduction, and to me it comes down to guys being lazy, scared, and/or content while women worry about losing their power. A basic understanding of game can completely turn the tables for a man in relation with women and women are petrified of that. For these reasons game will never become mainstream. Nobody likes feeling manipulated, but game isn't manipulative. It's just knowing what works. Call it whatever you want but everyone is manipulative to some degree. People just don't like it when others are two steps ahead of them.

Does somebody "be themselves" to become an engineer? Do they "be themselves" to start losing weight or squat 500 pounds? Do women "be themselves" when they put a pound of makeup on their face? Does somebody become a zen monk by "being themselves"? No. You have to learn essentially everything you do in life, so why are social skills any different?

"Being yourself" is an ever changing thing. It's a pointless term for anybody who isn't already Channing Tatum. This doesn't mean you act like somebody else or like fucking Mystery or something. You just need to keep improving to become your "best self".

I belonged to the "be yourself" camp a few years ago. I had no problem getting laid and Im a pretty good looking, athletic, funny guy. Yet I still fucked up many of my relationships. "Being myself" didn't do anything after a certain point. When I started reading game everything was clearer and now I have a much better handle on things. I treat it like any other skill to be honed.

Gone are the days when a man could get girls just from having a decent job and asking her "Hey Peggy Sue would you like to go steady with me?" In this modern feminism influenced world many men need game to level the playing field. It is what it is. We have to adapt.

If you want to learn to be a better public speaker you can learn how. If you want to learn to be a better storyteller you can learn how. If you want to be a better salesman you can learn how. If you want to become funnier you can learn how. If you want to learn how to be a better conversationalist and work a room you can learn how. If you want to learn almost anything you can learn how. If you want to learn to be more attractive and deal with women better you can learn how.

Notice only the last one of the above gets hate. It's against the rules of society these days. Men are supposed to just get it when it comes to all this shit. If you weren't born the most interesting man in the world and raised by the most interesting parents and had the most interesting friends then FUCK YOU IT'S TOO LATE GO BECOME HOMELESS YOU PATHETIC DUNCE.

Pickup may have some sleaze balls but it has changed alot over recent years for the better. Pickup lines and routines are being replaced by inner game focused ideas that are much more useful long term. Pickup is mostly made up of regular guys trying to improve themselves and have more success with women. That's it.

The funny thing is many of the least attractive guys who end up getting involved with self improvement will improve themselves so much that they will blaze right past the average guys criticizing game in the first place.

You can go from a 3-4 to a 7-8 if you get in better shape and start reading and approaching while the average guy is still at a 5 and only getting with other 5s. The average guy could improve if he wanted but hes fine just "being himself" after all.

In the end dont expect the stigma to ever go away. Just keep improving and let the actions speak for themselves. The fact is nobody can tell a good "pickup artist" is even a pickup artist. He just looks like a suave motherfucker. It's the bad ones that are obvious and make everyone else look bad.

Similar to used car salesmen. They get bad reps but only the pushy desperate ones. A good car salesman will just seem like a normal bloke, meanwhile he could have been pulling everything in the book to get you to buy. Is that wrong? I don't think so at all. Seduction is identical except that besides selling cars you're selling yourself, and selling yourself to the best of your ability is a skill that can always be enhanced.