I have a friend that voiced almost the exact same views of PUA when I told him what I was learning. I put it to him like this:

Right now you've got three options. You can keep playing World of Warcraft every night and never meet a woman. You can go out without a game plan or hope to get lucky. Or you can read the shit I am, change your image, and go out with at the very least some openers to break the ice when you approach a set.

There is a reason that my library is filled with poker books and cookbooks. I enjoy both and want to be as good as I can possibly be at both. Why would I not take the time to read up on what others have found to be successful when talking to women?

Yeah, thats a good point.

Cooks, and Poker fanatics write books for financial gain, but that doesn't mean the recipe's/strategies meticulously entailed in them are false just because they are trying to make money.

But, I do agree that a lot of this stuff IS kind of placebo. I mean.. For ME, it IS a magic bullet because I let it be a magic bullet. Make sense?

I went from pretty introverted, to very confident in the span of about 48 hours, and thats really all it took. The material and skills zoned in and really DO work.

But without the inner game, and confidence, none of the material would ever get you laid. It's great, but unless it's delivered from someone who really believes in it, and is confident enough to lay it on the set. It probably would only be about 15% effective..

On the other hand, if you had NO material, but you overnight told yourself that you were going to be SUPER confident, like NO weaknesses whatsoever. I would say, roughly 60% increase.
(statistics not verified by the Attraction In Domestic Social Situations AIDSS)

Hope the emotional skepticism has been put to rest.

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As a PUA, you must leave the girl better off than when you found her

thanks for the replies. rationally i know that i've been with cute girls before and can do it again, but emotionally i'm down after a couple of shitty relationships. it's hard to think clearly sometimes.

i have stuff to be grateful for: i'm 28, but everybody thinks i look about 5 years younger, i know about music and art, i can hold a pretty decent conversation (unlike a lot of the knuckleheads talking to women), i'm in good shape, i have a full time office job that pays ok, i'm considered funny... i have to concentrate on the positive.