[Blackhawk]

New to me: OKCupid compares two groups of girls who are both rated as the same level in attractiveness and their message contact rates:

(left) Traditional bell curve shape with average rating at curve peak
vs
(right) Inverse bell curve with emphasis on the extremes

http://blog.okcupid.com/index.html/the-ma...of-beauty/


The kicker is despite having the same average rating, the more polarized inverse bell curve on the right has 3x the message contact rate of the safer, more predictable traditional bell curve on the left.

This seems to have implications for opening game strategies vs middle game response rates: By being nice and all round appealing in your opening game, you'll be well thought of while they remember you, but the response rate on that middle game returned phone call will be low. While being cocky, edgy and more polarizing in the opening game will get an equally polarized response with more outright rejection up front in the opening stage --but such a much higher response rate from those that do get past and into middle game that it's worth it.

Playing the numbers in a pool of abundance, it appears it's you'll have much higher response rate success if you generate extreme emotions of both kinds, than by being blandly likeable without elevating anyone's pulse, either good or bad.

The downside is while we know the total increase in response rates, we don't know the ratings of the responders. Does this bias the response pool more towards 10s, 7s or 3s and 4s, or no bias at all? "Further research is necessary".

[Joseph_Dantes]

It's simple threshold analysis.

Forget the rest of the bars and focus on the fives. There's your answer.

Guys are messaging the girls they find extremely hot. The chick on the left is rarely considered extremely hot, only decent.

The application to male game is to differentiate. Avoid the middle masses like the plague. Provoke extreme reactions in chicks.

[hypesession]

Dude, the first girl looks like she just finished a triathlon.

The right is all glam and makeup, and PERHAPS the reason her votes are so polarizing is because she looks somewhat gothic. The type that keeps a bullwhip in her purse? Not everyone is into that. Others.. really into that.

Throw some rouge, lipstick and a shower and I'm sure the first girl would spruce up nicely.

Humble thesis: you can't be all things to all people. I find if my initial game is too strong for some people, there are a few who dig it. And all the better because it's not forced. If I'm being comfortable in my own skin and having fun, it's a win-win. This applies to OPENING game, of course mid-game you can tailor it down to get to business once you've read a person.

Hit me with an upvote this is my A-advice game I'm pulling all the stops!

[Blackhawk]

(07-04-2011 03:44 AM)Joseph_Dantes Wrote:  

Forget the rest of the bars and focus on the fives. There's your answer.

It's more than that just how many rate you 5s. The line in the chart is 25%. So the girl on the left has around 20% rating her a 5, while the girl on the right has slightly more than 25%. Yet the girl on the right gets 3x as many responses. If it were just being rated a 5, the girl on the right would need 60% rating her a 5 to get 3x as many responses.

Nor is it just these two girls. The author picked out a sample of 5000 accounts out of the full database of over 1.1 million active user accounts on OKCupid and he sees this across the board. These two girls were just kind enough to give permission to him to use their picture in his article.

He got interested in the wide variance in response rates for people rated at the same level of attractiveness.



and started looking at highs and lows at the same level of rated attractiveness.



The original article has more insights on why polarized responses are better.
http://blog.okcupid.com/index.html/the-ma...of-beauty/

[Yams]

So does this translate to real life where the one on the right is approached more than the homely girl on the left? They should give an interview to these girls to verify how many times either one are approached in real life.

I think there are many guys out there who think they don't like a real feminine woman (makeup, manicured nails, high heels, etc.) because they see them as high maintenance but really it reminds them of their own failures of trying to score with a desirable woman.

[Vitriol]

I think the variance has a lot to do with the type of guys that rely on online dating. You have a lot of nerds, dorks, emos, goths, etc. (I'm obviously stereotyping) with fringe tastes who shy away from traditional bar and club game for a number of reasons. Thus, when they see a girl like the one on the right, they think she must have shared interests and is the type of girl they should be going after (which is completely wrong in my opinion). We all know that's bullshit because female behavior is much more uniform, but a lot of guys aren't willing to realize that, so they wrongly think they have better chances with a girl who is less "normal".

I bet if you restricted the sample of males doing the messaging to more traditional types like jocks or something (who are probably poorly represented on online sites) the results would be the exact opposite.

[Giovonny]

This post has changed my Game,

My style is to use situational openers to create conversation with women. I try to be funny and interesting but I think I have been a little too conservative. I'm gonna start pushing the limits more and get more "extreme" reactions from chicks.

(07-04-2011 01:03 AM)Blackhawk Wrote:  

it appears you'll have much higher response rate success if you generate extreme emotions of both kinds, than by being blandly likeable without elevating anyone's pulse, either good or bad.

When I think back to my history of Gaming, I notice something. The crazier I was, the more girls I got. As I got older and started working, I became more conservative, That has hurt my Game. Conservative is boring to girls. I am now gonna return to my early days and just focus on being swagged the fuck out and not giving a shit what anyone thinks.

Getting girls to experience "extreme emotions" gets the p*ssy flowing.

Happy 4th of July, I am gonna be using the famous "Day Time Apocalypse Opener" today.

[hypesession]

You should make a thread on how that goes down.

I've heard of the "apocalypse opener" and it sounds intense but I've not used it.

[ezio]

Speaking of picture rating - if any of you all are on okcupid, you should definitely try out their "my best face" thing. I did it, and the results were enlightening. Of greatest note - It breaks down who liked certain pics by age group. Certain pics of mine were wildly popular with certain groups, and not with others. (e.g., ages 18-22 loved it, 22+ hated it)