Most of the newer LTRs have formed online (swipe apps & social media). It is now the primary way couples form.
Far fewer couples are now starting their interactions through a social circle facilitation, through a bar approach, through a non-bar approach (including through college campus activities), or in the workplace.
The way interactions are starting has had a massive impact on the sexual marketplace as a whole.
The swipe apps (and dating websites before them) have always been a shiit show in my experience.
As for your experience, you had the typical female experience of abundance online. Narrowing through that abundance is a challenge and a source of frustration for many women.
If you had 24 good options in a 12 month period, that's still very good abundance. You've not even been sitting on the market close to that long. The two hours time frame is extraordinary and outlier level. Even something like 2 weeks to 2 months is a short time frame.
I think it is important that you mention venue. When you have been approached, how much more frequently have you been approached in bar/nightlife venues as compared to non-bar venues?
There are some higher end non-bar venues too. In the grocery store category, Whole Foods is considered higher end. There are also higher end malls and shopping centers too. I can't imagine too many men lingering around a higher end boutique store looking for approach targets.
In the 2011 book "Day Bang", Roosh discussed the differences between approach targets in mall department stores vs. other types of shops inside of indoor malls. When Roosh wrote "Day Bang", he was in his early 30s and was reflecting upon being a 20s/early 30s guy seeking 20 something women in malls. He did acknowledge that mall department stores could be an option for older men seeking older women. In thinking about an upper end department store like Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus, it would be possible for a man to do approaches on a woman in there. I don't think there would be a lot of men who would choose to spend time in Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus to do approaches.
To respond to
@SW15:
Venue is important because it does some pre-selection for you. If you are at a gallery opening at an art gallery (for example) you are going to meet people who value art and are going, typically, to be more sophisticated, cultured, and higher net worth. These people also share an interest with you.
If you are at a nightclub where a metal band is playing you are going to meet people who share that interest.
If you are at a white table cloth steakhouse where steak costs $65 entry level & a glass of wine averages $25 a glass? That presents an entry barrier for those who cannot afford to be there. This again creates pre-selection. And there are high net worth individuals who gravitate to such venues as a way to do a couple of things:
1. Enjoy a great meal/glass of wine/perhaps live music...
2. Be open to meeting others who enjoy great food/wine and music....
3. The environment pre-selects for a certain patron profile, compatible with my own.
I think day game or night game is quite canned in the sense that picking a locale (let's use your Whole Foods example) is entirely counter productive if you are going there with the sole intent/focus of approaching women. I shop for groceries at WFM and have for many years. I've had men approach me there a number of times...
Each time the guy seemed desperate, canned and creepy. He's not there to shop for groceries....he's there to game women, not realizing how awkwardly obvious that is.
My point is this: Have an interesting life and go do things that interest you. If you meet a cool chick while doing something you enjoy that you were already doing? Happy bonus. Never go anywhere for the express purpose of "approaching women", you'll come across all wrong and savvy women will smell that eagerness on you like dog doo.
Expensive/exclusive venues pre-select against men who are cruising to meet women unless they are higher net worth where $$$$ is not a barrier. This has a number of advantages. I am in a venue where higher net worth/more successful people go, which means men I meet there have a more achievement based mindset and positive thinking patterns. It means I meet men who I better relate to & have more in common with.
I met my husband in a nightclub where a metal band was playing. I happened to be there to meet friends or I would not have gone. And one of the things I now deal with is his discomfort around highly successful men in my social environs. He is accutely aware that he is not as successful as they are & this bugs him, even when the guys are cool. But I'm not doing dinner at Olive Garden. I prefer Maestro's even if I have to foot the bill, which I often do.
The nightclub does not pre-select as well as an expensive steak house with a happy hour & sophisticated clientele.
So yes, venue matters.
