Oh no way! A text message who's it from? Aww Markiplier, how sweet
And there's a picture?!
OH GOD NO OHHH
It's burned into my retinas
I wish there was bleach for my brain
*INTRO*
Hello internet, welcome to Game Theory
Where last time we learned that saying hello is a bad way to get someone to go on a date with you
Luckily I'm not hitting on you
I just wanna be friends
Maybe friends with benefits and those benefits being - Subscribe to the channel. Thanks!
Anyway, let's not waste any time and hop straight back into part two covering my fifth most anticipated topic ever
Can dating sims help you get a date in real life?
If you miss the last part feel up that "I" icon in the upper-right hand corner
Don't worry, the video will be waiting for you when you come back
Now, when we last left off we had just introduced ourselves to the real world person of our dreams
So, now it's time to get down and dirty, learning the strategy that'll help us to get down and dirty
And now we continue MatPat's theorist's guide to dating in six easy steps *based on dating sims* today
By talking about talking. Step number three, speak in code
Dating sims give you a lot of lee-way for talking to girls
ALOT of LEE-WAY..
But in real life us guys know that there are a million ways to botch an actual conversation
In both "Hunie Pop" and "Love Hina" you start off afraid to talk to girls
In the games, you either get some magical help from your spiritual love guide or you just read the girls diary when she's not looking
Because the first step to a successful relationship is breaking and entering
*WARNING* Not actually step one for a successful relationship
Anyway, in most of these games - if you're gonna win a kiss or tentacle-fueled hentai session at the end of the date
Chances are, you're gonna need to have asked the girl for basic information about her life
And then be able to recite it back to her when quizzed during the date
It's all about getting to know a girl then remembering her preferences later
So, do the winning answers in dating sims translate to winning answers in real life?
As it turns out, "YEAH!"
ABSOLUTELY
Okcupid data shows that men have a 40% higher response rate when they mention specific details that are found in the woman's profile
Or ask her questions about her interests
WHAT?!
Taking actual "genuine interest" in another human being makes them LIKE you better?!
UNBELIEVABLE
But true
So yeah, Allie, I find it absolutely fascinating you think you're a 52 hundred year old alien who likes the band Muse and (?) bubble tea
Please, go on
Or Donna, please, go into gory detail about whatever serial murder you committed last night with your family and decided to send me pics of
I'd love to know what horrific things you have planned to do to my body tonight
But you know what? We, can go even further, by not just asking questions but by asking CODED questions
For instance, answer me this
Do you like the taste of beer?
Seriously? Do you?
If you answered, "Yes" to my question, you're more likely to have sex with me on the first date
UP TO 60% MORE LIKELY, in fact
No joke! That question is the single best predictor for finding out whether you're gonna sleep with me on night one
That said, I'd much rather take the time to learn about you as an individual
As a person
So, STOP TRYING TO GET INTO MY PANTS! I'M MORE THAN JUST A PIECE OF A MEAT, OKAY?
And my EYES are UP HERE!
But in all seriousness, this coded question is based on millions of data points, sites like: okcupid and match.com have collected over the years
Making you into a relationship mindreader
Or, maybe the girl you're trying to woo was just a half naked unemployed forest nymph who just told you she likes to have sex in public
That's probably an indicator about whether or not she's interested in you too
Anyway, according to the statistics, you can find out really deep information about your date by asking questions that don't even seem like they matter
Wanna know if you and your date will be compatible for a long-term relationship?
Just ask the following three questions
Do you like horror movies?
Have you ever traveled around another country alone?
And wouldn't it be fun to leave everything and go live on a sailboat?
They're stupid, they're random and yeah, good luck working them naturally into a conversation
And yet, if you and your date agree on all three, your chances in a long-term relationship are actually four times higher
It's CRAZY!
But okay! Now that you're armed with a knowledge that you wanna live on a sailboat watching Saw for the rest of your life
When do you ask her out? And avoid the dreaded FRIEND ZONE?
Step number four
Timing, is eh-- *SLAP*
Is everything
Asking someone out is hard
Too early and you're the awkward creeper
Too late and you're the gay best friend
Dating sims actually do a REALLY good job of portraying this
We talked last time about these heart in relationship meters, that measure your propinquity with the person
And usually you can start asking them on dates around the one-third full mark
In Pico Sim Date
This is a couple of hearts
In Love Hina, you need to have had several conversations with the girl
And while you can ask girls out in Hunie Pop whenever you want
You need to have talked enough to her to build up your stats in order to have that successful date
The rule of thumb is that when you run through most the general questions you can ask her and she's comfortable receiving calls, gifts, and emails from you
But not after so much time that your painting each others toe nails
It's time to POUNCE!
So, is this true to life?
ABSOLUTELY!
According to Virtual Dating Assistance, men who were dating online tend to ask for a meeting after 5.14 total emails
So, usually in the second or third message that the man sends
However, this is TOO SOON!
The men who were most successful at arranging in-person dates are the ones who wait nearly 10 messages to be exchanged
Almost twice the numbers of messages they think they should wait
Guys! SLOW DOWN!
You gotta build up that relationship meter first
That said, on the other hand, there are also dangers to not asking for a date fast enough
eHarmony reports that if you've been in regular communication with someone for six weeks or more without discussing a date
Well, sorry friend, you're out of luck
Your odds of a relationship decrease DRAMATICALLY
And so, what about having a... Uh... Very successful date?
The girls in Hunie Pop will go back to your place for a roll in the hay at the end of your fourth successful date
So, do you wonder when's the best time to bring up that very touchy...? Get it? Touchy subject with your irl love interest?
Global Survey by Time Out showed that real people consider 3.53 to be the optimal number of dates before buzzing the ol' Brillo
So, just like in Hunie Pop, you can bring up the horizontal hoola during the fourth date and be statistically SPOT ON
Now, if you're looking to score earlier, it's important to know that only 10% of people globally expect to roast the broomstick the first time out
And yes, that is a euphemism for sex
I looked it up
So, unless they really like the taste of beer
You should never make the assumption that your partner is thinking in that direction
Even if you and the tiny brain in your pants are
And so that leaves us with a question
What're you gonna do while you're waiting for that elusive 3.5 third date to roll around?
Dating sims have something to say about that
TOO
Step number five
Give gifts
Give life
In pretty much every dating sim, you use gift giving to win over your dates
In Love Hina, it's how you go from being good friends to the coveted close friends status
In Hunie Pop, giving gifts increases the amount of hunny you get from talking to them
Pico Sim Date less than 3 has a boosting relationship score much faster than regular conversation
And when you're giving those gifts in the game, you can't just throw anything at her
Girls who really want a frying pan aren't gonna be jazzed when you give them a WATERMELON?!
ARE THESE REAL GIFTS?!
What kind of girls are these?!
Seriously though, in Love Hina, you can give Shinobu like 30 frying pans
She just can't get enough!
So, the big questions is...
Whether gift giving is an important part of real world mac'n
And interestingly enough, there are two sides to this story
To get to the bottom of this, we need to look at why we even give gifts and romantic relationships in the first place
Gift giving is believed to be a primal evolutionary trait
In studies on chimpanzee's and other primates species, males regularly exchange food for quite literally, doin' it like they do it on Discovery channel
An article's talking about it, and it's called, "Primate Prostitution"
Where even though males might hangout with lots of females casually
The only ones he's gonna be showing his little chimp are the one's he's already giving gifts of fruit to
And well, it might seem like these primate ladies ain't nothin' but banana diggers
They're actually being pretty smart
They're only sleeping with the gifty guy primates, they're selecting partners who are best at surviving, finding food, and most importantly, being generous with it
So, taking it back to humans
When guys expect to get some action after paying for dinner
It's not just that they're being a jerk, they're evolutionary programmed to think that they're demonstrating a preferable, sexual trait
By being generous and showing that they can support their partner
Girls, who are attracted to guys who buy them stuff might seem high maintenance
But actually they're just acting based on evolution
So, does that make dating sim's right?
Should you chuck tons of pinecones at the object of your affection because of evolution?
Well, actually, no
Outside of the obvious fact that no one needs five copies of the same magazine in the span of two minutes
The other side of the story is that nowadays, over-givers lose in the long run
"Over-givers"
That's a real social psychology term by the way
Over-givers tend to scare potential partners off
There are two reasons for this
First, an over-giver usually indicates someone with low self-value
The reason people tend to over-give is that they believe they have to bribe someone to care about them
What they end up creating are dependencies rather than relationships
Because in the long run, they attract people who take advantage of them
Not people who appreciate their generosity
Also, giving early on in a relationship makes people feel overwhelmed
They feel indebted to the gift-giver, not appreciative
That's why dating sims don't allow you to give gifts until you're at least heart level two
You want your date to be excited by the watermelon you just gave them
Not feeling like they have to payback a loan
So, if I can just up my relationship score by piling her high with samurai swords, what can I do?
Well, dating sims actually present a really good way around this issue
Which is to promote experiential giving
In both, Love Hina and Hunie Pop, you receive more points with your love interest if you give the gift of an experience
Or take her on a more exotic date
HEY!
I'm not just taking her to the spa to get her into her bathing suit, there's a strategy behind it
And this is exactly the way it is in real life
Cornell did a comprehensive study of gift-giving versus experience giving in 2014
That (?) across the board, regardless of age, employment, race, gender, politics, everything
People prefer experiential gifts to material gifts
The biggest preference was found in students
People who love to learn and experience new things
So, instead of buying your college girlfriend some jewelry
Know that she's more likely to prefer an experience that has less to do with the price tag and more to do with the cool time that you spend together
And finally, what kind of experiences should you have in a long-term relationship?
Let's see what dating sims have to say
Step number six
Be Nathan Drake, not Duke Nukem
We've all heard the old saying that nice guys finish last
And to their credits, some dating sims reflect this fact in life
In Love Hina, the girls hint that they'd be really impressed if you beat someone in a fight
In Sim Girl's, it's a normal part of the game
Fighting through hovering street ruffians
Punch Out - this is not
And in Pico Sim Date, your frequently offered audacious options like, "squeeze butt" and "talk about sex"
Now, while I don't recommend getting to know a girl by throwing a shoe at her
Studies do show that there is something to this idea that girls are attracted to aggressive men
It's the result of an evolutionary concept called "parental investment" theory
Biologically, woman choose a partner who is "reactive impulsive"
Meaning they respond aggressively to outside threats and can pass on those genes to their offspring
But hold on, before you get your swell on too much
Not that swell- Bicep swell
Don't go gettin' all 50 shades of gray up in here because if you want a girl to stick around, you're gonna wanna mello out pretty quickly
Women become less interested in aggressive and kinky activities in real relationships overtime
It's less than 10% by the age of 26
In dating sites statistics around long term relationships
Show that women respond best to men who are self-effacing
Using words like "sorry" and "awkward" increase a guys chances of getting a response by 15% or more
If you need more proof, just look at Casper Lee's success on Youtube
Or any of the other cute awkward British tubers
HEART YOU GUYS!
MUCH CUTE!
MUCH AWK!
And with that, we pretty much exhausted everything a dating sim can do for you in the real world
Surprisingly, these games get A LOT right
And I'm not the only one who thinks so
Sites like eflirt have referenced these games and said that quote
"In the future, I see it as something you could learn when you're younger, so that as an adult you understand relationship dynamics better."
End quote
The bottom line is this, real or virtual dating is hard
But dating sims are actually equipping you with the skills you need to make your real world relationships better
Whether you're dating a pigeon, a five tentacled alien, or a haunted anamatronic
GOD BLESS DATING SIMS
BUT HEY
THAT'S JUST A THEORY
A GAME THEORY
Thanks for watching
And hey, if you're looking for more dating advice, there's plenty available on our sponsor, audible.com
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YEAH
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GEEEEZ
This is a real thing
We men, even with the power of science and dating sims, we don't stand a chance, do we?
But for all you guys out there
Know the enemy
Listen to these books and learn the woman folks secrets
And you can level up your social skills and for FREE!
With a 30 day free trial by going to audible.com/matpat
Or clicking the link in the description of this video
Or maybe, you've given up on dating entirely and are resigned to living an entire life alone
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Audible has been a regular sponsor for us, this video included
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All joking aside though, if you do choose to be alone, good for you, that's - that's not a problem
I just made that joke for joking references