The Dating Game

With our current economic climate, I've been focusing a great deal on strategy for 2008. Deliberate choices made to result in specific outcomes; all designed to come full-circle with a desired WIN. So I've brushed up on my old readings of Machiavelli's "The Prince" and read Cliff's Notes for Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" (what? it's a tough read!).

So since my day-to-day work dictates a focus on business development in a competitive climate, it only made sense for me to apply this same thought to my personal dating life. After reflection, Game Theory has never been so prevalent in DATING as it is now.

With an ever shrinking pool of available prospects (as there is now a War for Talent with the mass exodus of Baby Boomers, we have a much smaller generation with less of a selection than our parents faced), combined with the widespread use of the Internet--- Houston, we have a problem. So in Layman's terms: there are fewer single, available marriage prospects out there in addition to much more aggressive competition with the availability of the Internet.

Enter Game Theory:

Whether we'll admit or not, DATING (defined: the active search of a potential mate), has become a GAME. Competition exists because there are multiple other single, available, people out there searching for the same exact thing: a viable, prospective partner. This elusive "other" is in High Demand.

There is also another phenomenon that my friend Tiger calls "The Perfect Match" (inserting a facetious smirk) where seemingly less-than-attractive females quickly pair up with disproportionately more attractive (aka hot) males. Using Game Theory, this Slate article does a humorous job of explaining "The Eligible Bachelor Paradox." To finitely sum up the article:


Where have all the most appealing men gone? Married young, most of them—and sometimes to women whose most salient characteristic was not their beauty, or passion, or intellect, but their decisiveness.

Don't you like how this is explained scientifically; and if you really wanted to get in-depth, there are mathematical equations (certainly not my strength) to back-up these theories. Of course, you could do what I did and just learn these things from watching The Bachelor! For every one desirable bachelor, there are 25 desirable bachelorettes competing for the heart of the singular Bachelor...

Check back for more to come on The Dating Game...