I read a book about these people once
It seems as if their entire strategy is something of a cult.
Where you have these big pick up artist leaders. And you have a bunch of insecure men who try and copy the personalities of these pick up leaders in order to try to be more appealing to women.
Like for example. There was this magician who went by the name "Mystery".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_von_Markovik
He used little gimmicky magic tricks to impress women. Usually if you have something that you are really passionate about, like magic for example, you can engage others and appear interesting by talking about said thing.
However because these PUAs somehow came under the misconception that women just like magic tricks, because that one magician was able to get laid by doing them.
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Also I think there is probably some grain of truth in their manipulation tactics.
I think all form of social interaction involves some subtle level of manipulation. Ex. I am nice to my friends because I want them to like me.
But the issue with PUAs is that their obsession with manipulating others goes beyond simple social skills and into psychopath territory.