Mystery Method

The Mystery Method is a method of seduction first popularized by Erik Von Markovik a.k.a "Mystery" and subsequently developed by Savoy and other The Mystery Method instructors (The Don, Cliffstar, Cajun, Tenmagnet, Mr. M, Sheriff, etc.) who have revitalized - in their words - the method into something that works for a wide variety of men, with all kinds of lifestyles. The system was initially outlined in posts on the newsgroup alt.seduction.fast. Since December 2006, Mystery is no longer part of The Mystery Method website, and he has launched his own company ( [http://www.venusianarts.com] ), although Mystery Method has carried on and expanded without him.

Mystery is responsible for coining a lot of terminology now used in the world of seduction: such as "3 second rule", "set", "peacocking", "indicator of interest", "indicator of disinterest", "last minute resistance", "routine", "approach anxiety", "neg hits", "canned material", etc [ [http://www.fastseduction.com/acronyms.shtml Common acronyms / slang used on alt.seduction.fast] ] . The Mystery Method is now marketed online, via books, DVD sets, and most notably, live seminars and coaching with various instructors.

Mystery has submitted a patent application for his method, [ [http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20080040131&OS=20080040131&RS=20080040131 United States Patent Application: 0080040131 ] ] although some members of the seduction community argue that he did not develop the concepts but simply popularized others' contributions.Fact|date=March 2008

Basic concepts

The Mystery Method uses the term 'value' to describe the benefit of aligning oneself with a person or group with the potential to improve one's reproductive chances (Replication value) or quality of life (Survival value). The male with the highest Survival and Replication value, in this case the alpha male poses a large possible threat to other males, whereas a very attractive woman possesses high R value. According to Mystery, women evaluate potential mates primarily in terms of the Survival (S) value they offer, while men evaluate potential mates in terms of their Replication (R) value. This viewpoint runs counter to current academic anthropological theory, compare e.g. David Sloan Wilson's "Evolution" or Stephen Jay Gould's "The Structure of Evolutionary Theory". [David Sloan Wilson,EVOLUTION-Random House 2006] [Structure of Evolutionary Theory,Stephen Jay Gould,2002]

The Mystery Method teaches that people have strong emotional reactions to others with significantly higher value. Men will have an emotional reaction in response to a very attractive women, while women will have an emotional reaction in response to men who display the qualities of the 'Tribe Leader'. This emotional reaction leads to an adrenaline rush, and to demonstrate abnormal behavior around the other person. An exceptionally attractive woman causes this reaction in the majority of men, so the method teaches that she will subconsciously believe that any male who appears emotionally nonreactive to her is of higher value than she, and she will become attracted to him.

Many of the techniques taught as part of the method are ways for the user to demonstrate high 'value'. Examples include story-telling with embedded (but well-concealed) bragging, appearing emotionally nonreactive to 'targets', and showing that the user is 'preselected' by other women. These techniques, along with many others, are taught as part of the 'M3 Model'.

The rhetoric and vocabulary underpinning Mystery Method borrows heavily from Evolutionary Psychology - for instance 'love' as an objective of human sexual relationships is replaced with pair bonding, which he defines as a strong bond between two individuals which is based on the subconscious desire to raise their Survival and Replication values.

On Valentine's Day, February 14, 2008, the U.S. patent application for "Interpersonal Pursuit Method" was published. The [http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20080040131&OS=20080040131&RS=20080040131 application] was filed by Mystery on August 10, 2006. Other prominent members of the seduction community have announced that they plan to oppose this application.

The M3 Model

The Mystery Method M3 Model is divided into 3 steps: Attraction, Comfort and Seduction, each of which is divided into 3 phases. The Method teaches a set of strategies and tactics for each phase to successfully move the interaction forward toward the end goal, which is the creation of an intimate sexual relationship.

Step 1: Attraction

The goals of the 'Attraction' phase are: to start a conversation with the target ('Opening'); demonstrate high 'value' to the 'target' in order to build her attraction to the pickup artist ('Female to Male interest'); and to appear to become increasingly attracted to her, for reasons other than her looks, while making her increasingly invested in the interaction (Male to Female interest). There are five attraction switches that can be triggered in the female by demonstrations of:
# Being preselected by other women; you must therefore have value for the target woman as well
# Being a leader of men
# Being the protector of loved ones
# Having a willingness to emote
# Being a successful risk-taker

In some earlier products, Mystery replaces "Being a successful risk-taker" with "A willingness to walk away". Indicators of successful attraction will include the brushing of hair, scratching of wrist, forearm, shoulder and face.

Step 2: Comfort

In the 'Comfort' phase, the pickup artist attempts to establish rapport, trust, connection and a sense that the interaction is real and genuine. According to the Mystery Method, "the game is played in comfort". It is the longest and most crucial step and generally takes several hours, possibly over the course of several days, to complete. Mystery writes that of the average 4 to 10 hours (cumulatively) it takes to build a connection sufficient for the initiation of a sexual relationship, as much as 90% will be spent in the comfort-building phase.

Step 3: Seduction

The 'Seduction' phase is the physical escalation towards sex and dealing with a woman's natural apprehension towards sex with a new partner. It also includes dealing with Last Minute Resistance (LMR), for which the Mystery Method advocates freeze-outs in which the pickup artist agrees with the resistance ("you're right, we shouldn't be doing this"), withdrawing and re-directing the situation to something boring like playing cards or table tennis.

'Negs'

Media attention directed towards the Mystery Method often mentions the concept of 'negs' as an example of what the method teaches. The oft-quoted example is the comment:

* "Nice nails, are they real? No? Oh, well they're nice anyway."

Negs are intended to be false disqualifiers and are intended to lower the target's comparative value to the seducer. Specifically, they are not insults; instead, they resemble the comments of a person who does not view the target as being sexually interesting.

In his television interview with The View, Neil Strauss explains that some men will demonstrate lack of interest by passively ignoring a woman; but since she does not notice him, she will not know that he is not interested. Therefore the purpose of the neg is to "actively" demonstrate lack of interest by disqualifying one's self as a suitor ("It's too bad I'm gay or you'd be so my type"), or by falsely disqualifying the target ("You are too much of a nice girl for me").

According to the method, a proper neg never makes the target feel insulted or degraded, but rather questions whether the man approaching her has fallen under her spell. Women of particular beauty often tend to assume males approaching them are interested in them solely as a result of their looks, and negs attempt to neutralize that assumption by demonstrating that the man is not (yet) interested in her, despite her beauty. A successful neg may cause the target to feel self-conscious and attempt to regain control of the situation by qualifying herself.

Another often overlooked aspect of negs is the fact that they can be nonverbal. A neg may consist of a roll off (using disinterested or distracted body language), wandering off, initiating conversation with a new third party, checking one's cell phone, or looking around the room as if looking for someone better to talk to.

Disqualification theory

Disqualification Theory is an expansion of the neg. It is a social tactic based on the idea that what a woman can't have, she wants more. It is a large part of indirect game as it can disarm a woman by keeping her from thinking that the man is hitting on her. It can correlate to preselection theory as well; if a man is taken, he is like a forbidden fruit to other women.

A disqualifier is the direct application of the disqualification theory. Examples of disqualifiers:
*"If I weren't gay, you'd so be mine."
*"I've got something to tell you...there's something in your teeth."

Indicator of interest

An indicator of interest is seduction community jargon for either verbal and nonverbal communications between two people that conveys (usually sexual) interest. [Strauss, Neil, , ISBN 0-06-055473-8] The term was coined by Mystery, and is often abbreviated "IOI." Sinn, the lead instructor for The Mystery Method Corporation (see below) stated in an interview that in all social communications between men and women, " [everything is] either a demonstration of higher value, a demonstration of lower value, an indicator of interest, or an indicator of disinterest."

Indicators of interest are part of flirting. Examples of nonverbal indicators of interest can involve touching (kino (haptics)), fidgeting, eye contact, and body language cues, such as Proteans. Verbal indicators of interest can range in subtlety from statements such as "Did that hurt?" (referring to a piercing), asking a stranger for his name, to "Wow, you're amazing." Generally, after three indicators of interest, one has built enough attraction to move to qualification.

However, you may also receive Indicators of disinterest (IOD), which shows that a woman is not interested in you. Some examples would be her turning her back to you, not paying attention to what you are doing or simply leaving. Receiving an IOD doesn't mean you lost the girl, getting them mixed with IOI's can even be a good thing.

Ownership Dispute

In August 2004, Nick Savoy and Mystery signed a joint venture agreement. It called for a 75-25% profit sharing between Mystery and Savoy and for all customers, intellectual capital, and assets to be owned jointly by them. In November 2004, Mystery asked Savoy to quit his full-time job and come on board as a 50-50 equity partner. Subsequently, the business paid out profits on a 50-50 basis. This is a matter of public record and is documented in [http://themysterymethod.com/Corp/MM-docs/our%20application.pdf official legal documents]

In October 2006, Mystery surreptitiously transferred the domain registration for mysterymethod.com from the company name to his personal account and announced he was going to form a new venture with Lovedrop (Chris Odom) and Matador (Stan Tayi). This is also documented in [http://themysterymethod.com/Corp/MM-docs/our%20application.pdf official legal documents]

Mystery Method Corporation, now known as Love Systems (controlled by Savoy) went to court to recover its interest in the domain. The California Superior Court granted Love Systems first a restraining order and then an injunction preventing Mystery from redirecting the domain registration away from the current www.themysterymethod.com website. Litigation between Von Markovik and Love Systems continued with a trial date originally planned for October 20, 2008. However, in July 2008, it was announced on both the Venusian Arts site and Savoy's blog that a settlement was reached between the two parties. [http://www.seduction-chronicles.net/2008/07/30/savoy-about-settlement-mystery-method/]

See also

*Mystery (pickup artist)
* Savoy
*Neil Strauss
*Dating coach
*Seduction community
*The Pick-up Artist (TV series)

References

# Strauss, Neil (2005), "", Regan Books, ISBN 0-06-055473-8
# Mystery (2004), The Venusian Arts Handbook, Mystery Method
# Mystery and Lovedrop (2004), Mystery Video Archive Encyclopedia

External links

* [http://www.mysterymethod.com Mystery Method Site]
* [http://www.venusianarts.com Mystery's New Site]
* [http://www.lovesystems.com Love Systems Website] - Savoy's new site