The Harmful Art of “Smeagoling”

**Reposted from the first Lair, original date: 1/6/04

Its funny why people get into the study of seduction and pick-up. Some get into it seeking to suppliment their skills. Others get into it to try and improve an area of their life they feel is lacking. And still others enter into its study because everything else has failed them. I’ve gotten to meet a lot of different people in my study of this subsection of psychology. Some of them are incredibly cool, others are boarderline psychotic. But most of the guys I’ve meet tend to fall in another category. And that is the category of “people with no social skills whatsoever.”

Its true, most guys who are bad with women are bad with social skills. Period. They do not know how to talk to people, how to relate with people, or how to connect with people. They can often be antisocial or shy to the extreme, not to mention insecure in almost all aspects of their lives. And when these types of people get into studying seduction, its almost as if they are handed a loaded gun and are sent off on a killing spree. For the first time in their lives, they are given a technology designed to suppliment their lack of social graces and they are more than willing to use it.

This gives birth to the “creepy seducer guy,” or what I like to call “Smeagols.” Smeagol is the Hobbit that turned into the creature Gollum in the Lord of the Rings. Its a funny parallel, but a valid one in my opinion. If you look at the character of Smeagol, he is a sad, pathetic character torn apart by hate, insecurity, weakness, and insurmountable mental anguish. He’s someone who what shunned by society, and harbors great bitterness and resentment towards it in return. But despite all this, Smeagol is a sneaky motherfucker. He is able to lie, and cheat, and steal, manipulating others to get what he wants. But he does so in a way where you never really trust him, and he comes off as creepy and two-faced.

This brings us to the guys with no social skills. I, and a few others, have noticed that in our associations with people who suffer from the lack of social skills and try to make up for it with the use of seduction tactics, often come off much like the dasterdly hobbit Smeagol, eventually blowing themselves out of sets by ringing too many of the girl’s alarm bells.

I noticed this in SS a lot. That is not to say that the skillset itself is bad, rather those who use it incorrectly often came off as “Smeagoling.” I know I’ve been guilty of this more than once when running pattern after pattern on a girl until they realized something wasn’t quite right and blew me out. This is also probably the largest problem people face when running game.

The harmful art of Smeagoling is quite hard to avoid unless you’ve got your inner game in such a place where you are congruent with the tactics you are using. Even the best of the best get blown out by Smeagoling because girls can pick up that they aren’t quite congruent with what they are presenting to them. Smeagoling can also occur when you push too hard for the close. So desperate are you for that “ring of power” between the girl’s legs, you’ll often push too hard and drive your “precious” away.

So how do you avoid Smeagoling the girl away? Well, the best tactic is to get her to chase you as opposed to agressively pursuing her. This is one of the reasons I dislike the “Make the Ho say No” Gunwitch style, though there is a time and place for that tactic. Often times, I’ve found the most powerful techniqes are those that push the girl away as opposed to pulling her back in. That is why something like “Cocky/Funny” works so well. Changing your reality to one where the girl is trying to seduce you and you constantly push her away and even BREAK rapport with her can be very powerful.

Some of the best tactics I know of to counter Smeagoling are in Swinggcat’s book, simply because his method is very much designed to prize yourself and turn the tables on the girl. DYD is very good to. Mystery Method has a certain Smeagol Factor because it depends on social proofing, where you need to tailor your approach to suit others a bit too much, not to mention that Mystery Method also uses a lot of tricks/gimmics (depending on the user, that is). The Old style of Speed Seduction had a high Smeagoling factor, and I think it still exists to a certain extent, especially since a lot of the newer stuff in SS is very blatently psychologicaly manipulative.

But no matter what method you use, nothing beats the Smeagol factor like being a confident person who is congruent with everything you do and say. And the only way I know how to do that is get to work on that inner game!

Getting away from the computer has been known to help as well. =)

Thundercat