Summary
In this experiment, contrary to what most people would think, there was no evidence that mass approaching girls on a college campus with a direct opener led to an adverse reaction. 60 direct approaches were done with standard pre-opening and post-opening techniques. Concerns around direct openers may be overblown. To err on the side of caution, beginners should be fine with occasionally or sometimes going direct on campus. Additional field work is needed to arrive at a more definitive conclusion.
Introduction
Recently, I've came across a couple of threads where people were concerned about "is it ok to approach with a direct opener on campus?" Others were worried that campus girls wouldn't like a direct opener, and this would have negative consequences. So over the past few weeks, I decided to run a little experiment.
Goal
The goal was to determine if using a direct opener on campus would have an adverse reaction during an interaction. An adverse reaction is defined as a negative social response from the girl, beyond simple non-compliance. This could be because she's shocked that you approached her in such a way or thinks that you're a player. I know this isn't very "scientific", but please see below a few examples of what I mean by adverse reactions:
Methodology
I've traditionally approached on campus using indirect openers. This is my first time mass approaching with a direct opener.
The university is not really a "party" school. I would also say that the average girl here has slightly below average social skills. The university has a very left-leaning, progressive campus culture even compared to other colleges in the US.
For all approaches, I applied standard pre-opening techniques when possible. For example: looking for IOIs, positioning myself so that she's the one who sees me first, hovering nearby for stationary sets, establishing eye contact before the approach, making a hand gesture like a wave prior to the approach, etc. I didn't use pings because they aren't really my style, and a lot of the stationary girls had earphones on, so I'm not sure how effective it would have been.
All approaches occurred during the afternoon and early evening (aka day game). Girls were in a variety of positions: sitting, standing, walking, and lying down. Aside from girls on campus, I also approached girls right off campus: bus stops, small stores, common areas of dorms, and nearby streets. The majority of the girls were undergrads (ages 18 - 22), while a handful were grad students or had graduated (ages 21/22+). There were no "crazy" approaches like running up to them from out of nowhere or approaching from behind.
Since it's warm, I wore a plain color T-shirt with chinos. As a reference point, the average guy here wore a graphic T-shirt or a school branded T-shirt with jeans.
I made 60 approaches over 6 sessions (an average of 10 approaches each). I did not have a pre-determined number of approaches to make when beginning the experiment. All approaches were on girls who were by themselves.
I tried to keep all openers as close to what a "typical" direct approach would resemble. The 3 openers (in roughly equal proportions) are below:
Results and discussion
To my surprise, none of the 60 direct approaches yielded an adverse reaction. My hypothesis was that at least a few of the targets would have reacted adversely, but that never materialized. Girls were happy to talk in general. A few were taken back initially.
Across all openers, the most common resistance that I faced was "are you a student here?" and similar variants. However, the rate that this occurred was similar to when I went indirect, so there wasn't a material difference. Furthermore, I didn't face this right after the opener. It occurred later on in the interaction.
Now, I'll go through some specific observations for each of the 3 openers:
From a number close perspective, I was 8 out of 60 (13%). As a reference point, my rate for the previous month using an indirect opener on campus was about one-third. I want to emphasize that this isn't to discourage direct openers. They indeed "worked" in this experiment. I'm not very skilled with direct openers, so this could be one reason explaining the much lower close rate.
Limitations
The analysis wouldn't be complete without noting limitations.
First, the sample size here is only 60. This is a good starting point but may not be enough. Would we have gotten at least one adverse reaction if we did 600 direct approaches? Very likely, but the quantity is unknown.
Second, I only did this at one college campus. Different campuses have different cultures.
Third, I'm not a beginner when it comes to approaching. Someone who's greener may have a vastly different experience.
Fourth, I only focused on adverse reactions during the interaction. For those who are students or approach on campus regularly, this experiment didn't seek to understand how direct openers would affect one's reputation longer term. We're talking about weeks, months, and years. I approach indirectly on campus and never have had anything really bad happen to me if I see the same girl again or accidentally re-approach her. But the results for direct approaches may or may not be the same.
Questions and comments are always welcome
In this experiment, contrary to what most people would think, there was no evidence that mass approaching girls on a college campus with a direct opener led to an adverse reaction. 60 direct approaches were done with standard pre-opening and post-opening techniques. Concerns around direct openers may be overblown. To err on the side of caution, beginners should be fine with occasionally or sometimes going direct on campus. Additional field work is needed to arrive at a more definitive conclusion.
Introduction
Recently, I've came across a couple of threads where people were concerned about "is it ok to approach with a direct opener on campus?" Others were worried that campus girls wouldn't like a direct opener, and this would have negative consequences. So over the past few weeks, I decided to run a little experiment.
Goal
The goal was to determine if using a direct opener on campus would have an adverse reaction during an interaction. An adverse reaction is defined as a negative social response from the girl, beyond simple non-compliance. This could be because she's shocked that you approached her in such a way or thinks that you're a player. I know this isn't very "scientific", but please see below a few examples of what I mean by adverse reactions:
- "Can you please just leave me alone?"
- "Do you do this a lot?"
- "Are you just walking up and talking to girls?"
- "Is this like a social experiment?"
- "Get away from me"
- "Fuck off"
- Rolls eyes
- Walk away quickly with a scared look
Methodology
I've traditionally approached on campus using indirect openers. This is my first time mass approaching with a direct opener.
The university is not really a "party" school. I would also say that the average girl here has slightly below average social skills. The university has a very left-leaning, progressive campus culture even compared to other colleges in the US.
For all approaches, I applied standard pre-opening techniques when possible. For example: looking for IOIs, positioning myself so that she's the one who sees me first, hovering nearby for stationary sets, establishing eye contact before the approach, making a hand gesture like a wave prior to the approach, etc. I didn't use pings because they aren't really my style, and a lot of the stationary girls had earphones on, so I'm not sure how effective it would have been.
All approaches occurred during the afternoon and early evening (aka day game). Girls were in a variety of positions: sitting, standing, walking, and lying down. Aside from girls on campus, I also approached girls right off campus: bus stops, small stores, common areas of dorms, and nearby streets. The majority of the girls were undergrads (ages 18 - 22), while a handful were grad students or had graduated (ages 21/22+). There were no "crazy" approaches like running up to them from out of nowhere or approaching from behind.
Since it's warm, I wore a plain color T-shirt with chinos. As a reference point, the average guy here wore a graphic T-shirt or a school branded T-shirt with jeans.
I made 60 approaches over 6 sessions (an average of 10 approaches each). I did not have a pre-determined number of approaches to make when beginning the experiment. All approaches were on girls who were by themselves.
I tried to keep all openers as close to what a "typical" direct approach would resemble. The 3 openers (in roughly equal proportions) are below:
- [Push-pull] "Hey, you have a really cool outfit, but do you have the personality to match it?"
- [Compliment] "Hey, I saw you sitting / standing / walking here, like your style, and wanted to say hi"
- [Screening] "Hey, excuse me. You can help me... I have a quick question for you. Are you single?"
Results and discussion
To my surprise, none of the 60 direct approaches yielded an adverse reaction. My hypothesis was that at least a few of the targets would have reacted adversely, but that never materialized. Girls were happy to talk in general. A few were taken back initially.
Across all openers, the most common resistance that I faced was "are you a student here?" and similar variants. However, the rate that this occurred was similar to when I went indirect, so there wasn't a material difference. Furthermore, I didn't face this right after the opener. It occurred later on in the interaction.
Now, I'll go through some specific observations for each of the 3 openers:
- [Push-pull] "Hey, you have a really cool outfit, but do you have the personality to match it?"
- This was perhaps the most successful opener out of the 3, with relatively longer interaction times and higher close rates
- Most girls would reply to the opener with "haha maybe not" or just laugh
- Very few would qualify and say that yes they were cool
- [Compliment] "Hey, I saw you sitting / standing / walking here, like your style, and wanted to say hi"
- This is probably the most mainstream these days out of the 3
- However, despite its popularity, some girls were surprised to get this compliment and weren't too sure how to react
- A few would ask me why I'm talking to them later in the convo when you would think that the opener should have conveyed the purpose
- [Screening] "Hey, excuse me. You can help me... I have a quick question for you. Are you single?"
- Most girls would respond with "no"
- However, a good percentage of their facial reactions and body language indicated otherwise
- Very low hook rates in general, so this is perhaps a little bit too direct
- For the ones that said "yes", they didn't hook immediately nor did they suddenly appear very interested right after the line
- I was most concerned with this opener getting me in trouble, but that never happened
From a number close perspective, I was 8 out of 60 (13%). As a reference point, my rate for the previous month using an indirect opener on campus was about one-third. I want to emphasize that this isn't to discourage direct openers. They indeed "worked" in this experiment. I'm not very skilled with direct openers, so this could be one reason explaining the much lower close rate.
Limitations
The analysis wouldn't be complete without noting limitations.
First, the sample size here is only 60. This is a good starting point but may not be enough. Would we have gotten at least one adverse reaction if we did 600 direct approaches? Very likely, but the quantity is unknown.
Second, I only did this at one college campus. Different campuses have different cultures.
Third, I'm not a beginner when it comes to approaching. Someone who's greener may have a vastly different experience.
Fourth, I only focused on adverse reactions during the interaction. For those who are students or approach on campus regularly, this experiment didn't seek to understand how direct openers would affect one's reputation longer term. We're talking about weeks, months, and years. I approach indirectly on campus and never have had anything really bad happen to me if I see the same girl again or accidentally re-approach her. But the results for direct approaches may or may not be the same.
Questions and comments are always welcome
