Direct game

Direct game

Eye contact (Commons). Direct is stated interest, not a speech.
Field	Pickup
Also known as	direct opener, neo-direct
Related	Indirect game; Approach; Statement of intent; Opener (pickup); Calibration

Direct game states romantic or sexual intent early, instead of hiding it in an opinion opener. "I thought you were cute and wanted to meet you" is the canonical line in the Newbie assignment.

Neo-direct is the usual insult for the degenerate form: generic "you're pretty," no specifics, no conversation, ask for the number immediately. Direct is not a substitute for Attractiveness fundamentals or for actually talking.

Direct and indirect approaches

The distinction concerns when and how interest is communicated, rather than a particular sentence that must be recited. A direct opener makes the reason for approaching apparent. An indirect opener begins with another subject and may leave the intention less explicit. Either opening can be followed by a conversation; the label alone does not describe everything that happens afterwards.

In his public discussion of direct and indirect game, Girls Chase writer Alek Rolstad distinguishes an older, more developed direct approach from what he calls neo-direct. He associates the former with observation, calibration and attention to the interaction, and criticizes the latter for reducing the method to announcing attraction and hoping for success. This is Rolstad's account of the distinction within the field.

Context and calibration

The same account presents direct game as a response to problems associated with poorly executed indirect approaches, including concealing interest for so long that the interaction stalls. It does not follow that more explicit wording is always better. Rolstad's distinction depends on the wider interaction and the response to it, rather than treating directness as a substitute for social judgment.

For illustration, a brief statement of interest followed by an ordinary exchange differs from repeating a compliment after an uninterested response. Similarly, a conversation that starts situationally can become explicit later. These examples distinguish the timing of an opener from the subsequent course of the interaction; they are not reported success rates.

Common confusions

Directness is not the same as conversational intensity, persistence or immediate intimacy. A clear opening can still leave room for either person to decline further conversation. The term should also be distinguished from Statement of intent, the narrower idea of expressing interest, and from Calibration, the adjustment of behaviour to context and response.

See also

• Indirect game
• Opener (pickup)
• Newbie assignment
• Approach
• Cold approach
• Statement of intent
• Approach anxiety
• Approach walls
• Spam approaching
• Set (pickup)
• False time constraint