Recently there have been quite a few Inner Game posts(this and this), those advocating for it, and those claiming it has done nothing for them. I want to help settle this dispute, by going over what inner game really is, and how it's developed.

According to a lot of inner game advocated out their, if you improve yourself and your life then everything else will fall into place. Pickup is a tool to help improve your life. You can get a fit body, really enjoy and value life and even be full of confidence, but when it comes to talking to women you can still, very easily, crash and burn. All this improve yourself and the women will come talk is bullshit. Inner Game is so much more then that. Not only do you have to improve your life, but inner game includes, as the name suggests, internalising the game, and to do this, you need to have game first.

So to have true inner game you need to do 3 things:

1) Learn the Game

Firstly, learn the game. Read the recommended books, learn what you can, and go out and practice. Practice is key. Start with something linear and easy to follow, like the Mystery Method. It is perfect for learning pickup. However, make sure that all the routines provided and canned material used as examples, is changed to suit your needs, to express you. Do NOT tell the story about your roadtrip with an exotic dancer, that is Mystery's story, which happened to him. Get your own story, and your own stuff to talk about. Do NOT lose yourself at this step by repeating the exact words provided as examples. This will lead to becoming a social robot and not to internalising the game.

2) Improve yourself

Simultaneously to learning to pick up women, improve yourself. As suggested by inner game advocates, respect yourself. Go to the Gym, find some hobbies, create a social circle, basically, get a life, and not just any life, but a good one. Make sure you value it.

3) Internalise Everything

And finally, to achieve the much coveted inner game, after heaps of practice, you will find yourself following through with your routines at an almost subconscious level, where you can go into a set and do what you normally do, and the seduction will come naturally. THAT is inner game. But to achieve it you must practice your pickup, and you must truly respect yourself, understand the role pickup plays in your life and then, you will have inner game.

To everyone who thinks that all you need to do is join up at a Gym, learn to respect yourself and then you will get the girls, how successful are you? If you are, then whether you want to admit it or not, you got that from the game you originally learned. I challenge one person to tell me that they want from a socially illiterate virgin to a master seducer without exploring any pickup methods, and simply cleaning up their life a bit.

You can't internalize negging, opening and all the flirtation techniques (Push/Pull, Fractionation, etc...) If you don't know then in the first place

TLDR; Inner Game requires you to learn pickup first. Inner Game involves creating a perfect you and learning the game will help immensely.