To be honest, I don't really... This is in my eyes one of the most straight-up behaviors. If she does something you don't like, you let her know - non verbally. Unless you CALCULATE how many days you will go soft next/NC, I don't think this is the "gaming" we refer to in a negative way. If you punish your child when it misbehaves, and you reward good behavior, no one would call it gaming either.
Very true what you are saying. Like I mentioned earlier, he was most likely playing it too cool so it's only natural she would test him... I totally agree that very often our behaviors are the reason why women test us.

It's very obvious that he was trying to use PUA tactics when he tried to act like he didn't care about the girl. I agree that sometimes being PUA is a requirement for success, but at the same time, this entire PUA religion can go overboard and be too much.

I've learned that it's not always good to be PUA, and that some of the same things that can get you verbally abused in a PUA forum (especially amongst the more religious PUA members) are the same exact things that could HELP a situation with certain types of women. In other words, if you mess up by being too much of a jerk/dick, sometimes doing something that would be considered the opposite of PUA behavior COULD work.

ALSO:

I've had two women who didn't respond on date day/night, and it turned out tat both of those women WERE interested. One is on he verge of becoming my girlfriend right now. The other one was bipolar. They both had odd, but acceptable reasons for not replying on date day. Yes, I did the PUA thing and didn't bother to say anything when I gt no responses even though I was pissed inside. It turned out that some women (the one on the verge of becoming my girl being a main one in particular) were reacting in weird ways because they thought I was a player and they didn't know what I was up to or who they were to me. They were confused.

But, I will admit, it was these same PUA tactics that confuse and mess with their heads that also attracted them to me in the first place, so I must give credit where credit is due. Before I learned many of these things, I got almost 0% success.

The point here is to learn the techniques, but don't make it a religion. Don't be one of those who are diehard religious PUA freaks to the point where everything you do has a PUA agenda behind it and you get offended, ready to attack if someone does things different from how your mental PUA Bible says it shall be done. I was once a PUA religious freak the first couple of years I learned this stuff. Now I've learned that many girls are different and that you also must show a woman you care at a certain level.

How do you balance showing interest and not showing too much interest and pull this off long term? I don't really know how to answer that. I assume that at some point in a relationship the PUA behavior must stop. But at the same time, you do NOT want to stop whatever attracted you to her in the first place. It's complicated, unless you're a natural. If you are autistic at any level or have social anxiety or any form of mental issue that affects your social skills, things are 70 times harder.... but that's just the way it is.

I ALSO HAVE QUESTIONS OF MY OWN REGARDING THIS:

How long was she your girlfriend?
How long did you date beforehand?
Were you friends first? (or is the friends first method wrong in the PUA world)?
And how did you both come to defining the relationship?
Did it just happen or did someone officially put a label on everything?
Did you or she ask to make it official? And if so, how?

In case of a healthy relationship between adults, I agree with you. Keep in mind tho, the OP and his girl are still children.. He stated somewhere they are 14 or 15. His first post already reveals they are both very young. So drawing a line and showing his girl his boundaries very early is a good idea. You can't do that by just talking. You have to make her FEEL that actions have consequences. Because she's a child. That doesn't mean good communication is not vital in general.

If she disrespects him by doing something major he doesn't like, or making stuff up to get a reaction out of him (which is playing games), withdrawing his attention is a very honest and effective way of dealing with it. In such cases she'll always know why he does that - even if afterwards she does ask why, he should tell her. Withdrawing his attention when there's no clear reason for the girl to pick up on, that is gaming.

But again, you're right he should also ask himself why his girl starts doing this. He himself has to find his own balance with her, adjust to her personality too. It works both ways...

Obviously as you get older, you learn to pick your girlfriend carefully. As a child tho, he's still dating a child...

She likes you, obviously. The "crush" talk is a tactic to real you in (jealousy tactic as old as time itself).

Act indifferent to it recognizing it is what it is. She's your girl, treat her as such stop sweating this bullcrap and being pulled off center/being all reactive.

Hey there, Nu K Konnect.
She's been my gf for 6 months
We went straight to being bf/gf
We were friends first... For about 3 days after I met her. Then I tried escalating and it worked.
We didn't really put any boundaries on the relationship except of course, cheating and other things that would be considered wrong in a monogamous relationship.

Also, thanks for all the help, guys. =)

Man, stop this, this "alpha" thing in the community is really ridiculous.
"Alphas" in nature end up with their butts kicked when the next guys comes up and die earlier than most others, that's for sure.

Try to improve yourself and be a bit more yourself, stop the faking.

Seriously. You all need to stop with this apha male crap. If you're not an alpha there's no point pretending otherwise you'll tie yourselves in knots, confuse the fuck out of her and she'll think your playing games, cheating or just not interested. Just be yourselves for fuck sake and treat women as people. Not some kind of object that you push and pull in all kinds of directions. Sheesh it's not that difficult. She liked the real you when you were nice and sweet and now you've turned into an alpha baboon who acts as though he doesn't give a stuff about her anymore. Women want guys who are up front and honest. Not some creep who ducks and dives and says one thing and then does another. Who wants that kind of a head fuck in their lives???

Pretending your an alpha when you are a beta (there's nothing wrong at all with being a beta and many girls prefer that to some up himself, rude asshole who thinks he's God's gift and treats her like shit). If you treat her like shit just to keep her on her toes then you are in for one helluva miserable relationshipl