Have just finished reading a book over the weekend.

The title of the book is "THE GAME". It is written by Neil Strauss. Hmm, from the title of the book, what do you think the book is about?

The author is actually an undercover in the Secret Society of PUAs (Pick-Up Artists). And they do precisely what their name suggests – they specialize in picking up girls in bars, clubs, or just at the fast food joints.

They bait you with "openers" such as "I need some female opinion on this," or "Have you heard about the best friend test?". Then they hook you further with their runes reading, handwriting analysis, palm reading or the "cube" test. And finally they "number-close" you.

It sounds so unbelievable right? I could have mistaken the book as fiction.

But no, this is indeed very real.

These mPUAs (Master Pick-Up Artists) have been zooming around US and sometimes Europe conducting seminars and workshops, teaching other guys how to become PUAs. And after that, they sarge. Sarging means going to pubs and other suitable venues, exercising their new-found skills.

And some of these PUAs have sarged Britney Spears and Paris Hilton to name a few. They even started establishments such as the aptly named "Project Hollywood" where Courtney Love have been known to be a house guest.

Seriously, it’s crazy. After finishing the book, I sit there thinking… is this real?

They perceive women like objects. They give each woman they are about to pick up a rating (1-10). I think at some point, they dehumanize the woman. Even the author admitted that he was beginning to lose respect for women.

But these skills they are teaching, men all around the world are just lapping them up. Because it is like gaining some superhuman powers. All of a sudden, you are able to pick up any woman you want. Wow! No more rejections. And even if you are bold, fat or ugly, as long as you are a good student, you would have a certain degree of success.

However, the book has an unexpected ending. When the writer finally met the woman of her dreams, he realized that she did not seem to be falling for any of the tricks in the book. She seemed to be immune to them.

And finally, what hooked her was the real him. She wanted him to be who he really is, not the pick-up artist that he has become. But yet, he kew that if he had not developed the style and confidence that he now had during the 2 years he was an undercover PUA, she probably would not have shown him the slightest interest.

To me, that is quite a paradox.

So you have all these men out there, who is your average Mr. Nice Guy. But women are simply not attracted to them because they are just TOO nice. And so, the men get fed up and decided to learn the secrets of the PUAs.

And yes, they are instantly transformed into Mr. Bad Guy. They use tactics and play games to hook the women in. But yet, they have no idea how to proceed from there. They do not know how to maintain a relationship. I mean, you cannot just keep playing games throughout the relationship, playing "hot" and "cold" all the time, can you? Or maybe you can. But if you are so busy playing games, would you actually have time to develop a real relationship?

There’s this one mPUA – Mystery. He is like one of the legends. He is one of the pioneers in the field of PUAs. Yet, he fails miserably in his relationships. He just does not know how to make it work.

Yet these men might not stand a chance with the women of their dreams by being Mr. Nice Guy… so what are they to do?

What are your thoughts? Do you think these methods would work in Asia? Or are they only successful in the more westernised countries? As a guy, would you ever learn the skills of the PUAs if given a chance?

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