Direct Game vs Indirect Game: 4 Reasons Why You Should Choose Direct
One of the most well-known debates in the manosphere has been whether a man is a better off going direct or indirect when it comes to cold approaching women.
By direct game we mean the process where a man approaches a woman without hiding his romantic interest in her. It's when a guy walks up to a girl, whether she is at the bar enjoying her drink or walking down the street to go to work, and expresses his intention to know her sexually/romantically and not just socially.
Usually, going direct involves a direct compliment about her physical appearance (body, facial features etc) or her fashion/style/body language.
Indirect game is the exact opposite. It's when a man chooses to hide, and not reveal, his romantic interest in the woman.
Indirect game might include:
Asking the woman for information
Asking the woman for her opinion
Making a situational remark (if she is somehow standing next to you)
Anything else that doesn't allow a woman to be certain that you are talking her because you want to have sex with her or date her
A Brief History Of Direct vs Indirect Game
In the beginning, there was Mystery, and Mystery was the forefather of the pickup/seduction community and the manopshere universe as whole. His method of approaching and meeting women, The Mystery Method, was the source of indirect game. According to this method, a man wasn't supposed to reveal his romantic interest to a woman for fear of not losing his value while inflating hers.
A guy shouldn't even approach the woman he was truly interested in, but instead he should approach her less attractive friend, ignoring his true target. At a later stage, after he had established his value to the group, he could turn to the woman he was interested in, demonstrating his value, while keeping her female Ego at bay by slightly insulting the girl with small, calculated negative comments (negs).
By negging the girl, a man made sure that the girl didn't think of herself as being "above him". This was supposed to hook the girl, steer her curiosity about the guy, and create attraction down the road.
The Mystery Method was, therefore, a very strategic brand of indirect game which was later replaced by the simplified version we talked about above: approach girls and ask them for directions/ask them for their opinions etc.
The entire logic of indirect game has been: that the dating game is a power struggle between men and women that is won by the party that shows the most value.
If a man approached a woman by giving her a direct compliment, then he would lose value because the woman would think that she already "got him". She would think that there is nothing else to be won by this man. She got her shot of validation. End of story. A man showing his romantic interest, according to the indirect game school of thought, was a man who "lost his value", a man who admitted defeat...He lost to the woman. But did he?
Let's think about it for a second. If George Clooney went up to a woman, looked her in the eye, and complimented her about her amazing legs, would he lose value in her eyes?
Would he be seen as "defeated" by the woman?
Definitely not, right?
If not, what is the problem then? Direct game itself or the man who plays it?
Is direct game making a man lose value or is it the fact that he is not George Clooney?
And by "George Clooney" we are not talking about a rich, famous actor, but about ANY man with good fundamentals and a masculine temperament.
This is exactly what we discovered after wasting a lot of time with indirect game more than a decade ago, when we started our own self-improvement journey: you can be as direct as you want with your romantic interest for a woman as long as you adopt a charming, masculine attitude towards her. It's not what you do, but WHO you are that makes all the difference in the world of dating and seduction.
Now that we got the basics down, let's examine closely the direct game vs indirect game dilemma and the four reasons why you should choose direct.
4 Reasons Why You Should Choose Direct Game
1. It’s Easier To Apply
You might think we lost our minds by suggesting that walking up to a girl and giving her a direct compliment about her face or body is "easier". Especially if you are an introverted man, cold approaching a girl is already very hard, let alone approaching her in a direct fashion. But when we say it's "easier" we don't mean psychologically, but practically.
Yes, it takes more courage to go up to a girl and compliment her, but once you overcome your approach anxiety, it's easier to practice direct game because it's simple and straightforward.
You don't need to think of complicated openers or be "strategic". You don't need to formulate a verbal "battle plan". You just let your natural masculine energy shine. What is easier really? To ask her for directions first and THEN jump on inviting her out/ask for her number/make the interaction erotic out of nowhere or to just approach her and express what you genuinely like about her?
2. It is More Time-Efficient
Once you start approaching girls in a direct fashion consistently you will realize that there are just two outcomes that reveal themselves to you from the first minute of your interaction with the girl: either she welcomes it warmly and she gives you the time of the day to know her some more or she doesn’t and you just saved your time and energy to find other girls who would give you a warmer reception. That's it.
By being direct, you know that either you will get the girl because she likes you and because she is sexually available for you at that moment or that you simply need to move on.
Let other men make small talk with women for 45 minutes only to be told "it was nice talking to you, but I have a boyfriend". You are too busy, and your time is too valuable to waste it like that.
3. It's More Exciting To Women
We will not get tired repeating it: women love balls. What do you think women's fantasies are made of? Men who come up to them, not being able to even hold eye contact with them and talk to them about the weather or men who cut corners to interrupt their life in a direct, charming way?
A man who "hides his banana" is not attractive to women. Nice guys who stutter and don't dare to express their masculine desires in a bold, charming way might be used by women for various reasons, but they don't end up in their beds nor in their fantasies.
Anyone can ask for directions. Anyone can make harmless small talk. But how many men are so ok with themselves that they can just appear in front of a girl, penetrate her with their eyes and say clearly what is in their minds without hesitation?
4. It Makes You Feel Great
Using direct game to meet women will give you a dopamine kick like nothing else. It's like taking a cold shower or lifting weights. Doing the riskier thing, the uncomfortable thing gives you a boldness high. It is consistent with your masculine nature to reap the rewards by doing the harder thing. Once you start cold approach girls systematically with direct game, you will understand what we mean.
Conclusion
The direct game vs indirect game debate in the manosphere is an old one that never loses its significance. It's about what is better for a man who wants to improve his dating life with women.
Indirect game means that you approach women without revealing your romantic interest in them. Direct game, on the contrary, is about approaching women and expressing your romantic interest in them directly by giving them a direct compliment, usually about their appearance.
The basic idea behind indirect game is that a man loses value if he goes direct because he "showed his cards" and the girl has no incentive to pursue anything more with him.
However, we established that direct game doesn't make you lose value, if you made yourself a reasonably valuable man first. By "valuable man" we don't mean "rich and famous". We mean a charming, bold man who feels no guilt expressing his masculine energy towards a woman.
Do you feel guilty approaching women by using direct game?
Are you an introverted man who wants to overcome his approach anxiety and get the women he wants?
Don't wait. Book a coaching call with us.
