Happy thanksgiving to you too . Here ' s my two cents I feel the same way as you do about not wanting to play games and wanting to a real , honest relationship with someone . I ' ve had dates where I really felt the two of us connected , only to eventually end up being ghosted . Haven ' t gone ahead with this plan yet since I only thought of it recently , but on future first dates I plan on making it very clear that I ' m all about honesty and straightforwardness . Nobody wants to reject someone else , which is why girls and guys ghost . However , if there ' s some natural way to make it clear to the person who agreed to go on a date with you that you ' re not about bullshit or games , maybe they ' ll respect that . I guess this doesn ' t really answer how to keep the motivation to continue dating , but I hope it ' s an idea worth considering to potentially avoid getting ghosted again without any reason . The modern dating game is all bullshit and very difficult for people looking for something serious . Since you seem open to trying dating apps , maybe you ' d be interested in OKCupid ? Supposedly that ' s for more serious dating and it ' s possible you could have better success there . Best of luck .