Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The Cult of Real Social Dynamics

I received some interesting feedback to my recent article in which I describe the unethical and (borderline?) fraudulent techniques Real Social Dynamics (RSD) is using to sell Ozzie’s “Physical Game Book”.

First, a guy named JT commented:
It's really a joke at this point. I was at the RSD free seminar awhile back and Tyler himself was poking fun at it, so whatevs.
It is too bad that the joke is on the RSD fanboys.

I replied:
You are asking, "So, whatever?" but are you even aware of the implications?

You basically say that Tyler went up on stage and communicated something like "You know, we think our customers are complete idiots and not only that, we also give a sh*t about business ethics, that's why we use those fraudulent techniques. Isn't that totally cool?"

...and then the crowd cheers and thinks Tyler is a genius. One Asberger's patient might even say to his neighbor, "Oh, gee, I wish I were as unstifled as Tyler."
But it’s not that shadiness is something RSD adopted in recent weeks. My buddy JuiceTerry sent me a couple of classic links he had dug up on the website Rip Off Report. By the way, RipOff Report is run by a scammer, too. Check Salty Droid’s article RipOff Report Report for coverage (the guy running RipOff Report deletes negative reviews if you PAY him).

However, RSD decided not to pay RipOff Report to delete the negative reviews, so there’s still some entertainment to be had.

Please note that those are comparatively old reports --- one was updated in 2009 though --- , but you can find plenty of more recent negative reviews online if you just look around a bit. Sadly, RSD is hardly the exception here.

Exhibit #1:
Report: Real Social Dynamics (Real Social Dynamics - RSD Sucks Ripoff Internet)


At one point in the night every student was with Christophe and I realized no one had any idea where Jlaix or Mike were. They had been gone at least half an hour. I asked Christophe where they were and he didn't know so he had the other students open sets while he and I went out on a mission to find them. We went upstairs and found them in a corner laughing with drinks in their hands and having a good time.

Christophe started screaming at them and they replied that they were opening sets for students. There were clearly no students around them or even on the same floor as them and there were clearly no girls near them. At the end of the night when we debriefed one of the students flipped out that Mike and Jlaix were gone so long and Mike replied that he was doing demos then the student yelled out “Bulls**t!” and they had nothing to say back.

These debriefs were all held in the same pizza place which was a very public setting were people could hear us talk about game. That night one guy who was not in the workshop and was eating at the pizza place yelled out “I have a question” to Jlaix and Jlaix responded “Yes, you're fat”. The guy, who was about twice Jlaix's size, then charged at Jlaix and shoved him in the chair he was sitting in so hard that Jlaix got knocked right into the wall and broke the chair he was sitting in into 3 pieces.

(…)

Like the rest of the days, the other students were pushed into sets and didn't do anything else the first half of this day. When we got there Mike saw that the college he attends UCLA had a close football game on TV so he took some time out to watch it and not pay any attention to the students. He was by himself at the bar watching a football game.

(…)

Next set of girls Mike and Jlaix talked to were 2 girls. I was right next to them the whole time. Mike talked to his girl for a few minutes then she started losing interest and turned the other direction. For whatever reason the girls left 10 minutes into the conversation. Jlaix talked to another girl for about 5 minutes and then she left. She ran to her friends saying “ewww. That guy said he would do ----- if I kissed him so I left.” At the end of the night none of the instructors sets were going that well. Jlaix ended up talking to a girl that was approximately 5'5” and 250 lbs. All Christophe could say was “she's not sleeping in our room tonight”.

(…)


So here is where I put in my opinion. I'd say the instructors skill level was very low. I honestly have friends who on their worst nights still do better than any of the instructors were doing which made me very unsatified. Christophe goes in high energy on the girls he talks to and never drops it which I thought was totally a beginner's mistake. I don't think any of the instructors were good enough to be teaching guys how to get women. Also, expect to take s**t from the instructors.

They know that 99% of the guys who take these workshops are wimps and don't stand their ground so they take full advantage of this. On the third night I really didn't want to go to the Apartment bar for the third night in a row because I wanted to go to a nice venue and see the instructors talk to really hot women. On the third day Mike said we could go someone nice if all the students agreed.

Well, all the students agreed then Mike said how only the instructors know which place is best for the students. The real reason the instructors wanted to go the Apartment bar was because Mike and Jlaix wanted cheap drinks. Every night they drank and Jlaix even mentioned to me about how cool it was that they had $2 St. Pauly Girl beer.

Overall I think the students got very little value out of the workshop. All most of them did was go into set for a few minutes and then leave. Another things the instructors do is say that they make barely any money off of these workshops and that they just do it for the students which is completely off.

The CEO Nick wears $800 D & G shoes from what I've heard and I know someone else who saw the other CEO Tyler (Owen) with 4 full shopping bags of clothes in his hands after shopping at Melrose in L.A. which is extremely expensive. After the workshop I talked to Tyler about the issues I had with the workshop and he said he was going to call some of the students to verify it and get back to me but he never did, even after I tried to contact him several times after.

Exhibit #2:
Report: Real Social Dynamics (Real Social Dynamics ripoff false advertising frauds scam artists West Hollywood California)

Third, none of what they did was objectively result-oriented. Almost every approach would consist of me going up to a group, stating a conversational opening line or story, and then the instructor I was with would come to us 30 seconds later and continue the conversation. Afterwards the instructors would try to drive the conviction into me that the girls “were so interested in you” based on even a frivolous small glance or hesitation on their part which could have signified many different things. Then the cycle repeated.

Fourth, the course was unorganized. On the second day Nick Kho and another instructor gave me the first lecture based on a ‘cheat sheet' they handed out. This document was filled with abbreviations, acronyms, and incomplete sentences that assumed that the reader had a knowledge of what all these meant. Through the lecture, he would explain once what they signified, but afterwards did not volunteer to go through it with us again. Furthermore, I was delayed three times on a time span of two months in excess of the original time I planned on taking it.

By the end of the course, not only did my attitude or knowledge of social dynamics not change at all, but on the contrary, after seeing a lack of both professionalism and effectiveness on the instructors' behalf, my beliefs in socializing worsened. I can honestly say that I am both worse off and monetarily down after taking this class. They did not demonstrate mastery of the skills they offer to teach. They are frauds with cunning advertising. I did not see any results on their behalf or my own.

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