SoTxBob said:
Sit and watch someone perform for you, for free, and not even have the courtesy to say hi or thanks. You can make all the excuses in the world about the economy etc. but I put it squarely on the "free never pay for sex shows again" marketing campaign Leo has adopted. That attracts every broke-ass-living-in-the-basement-loser on the web and despite traffic generating percentage formulas, they have no intention of spending anything if its not for a game.
This is as good a place as any for my first post... :-D
I agree wholeheartedly with the above. I happen to be friends with a model of 2 years experience on MFC who has experienced the same frustrations as the OP. We have discussed it at length, and assert the following:
-- Guests and basics should be one "non-paying" category, and have extremely limited access. Maybe a time limit per model and per day; say, 30 seconds at a time for up to 10 models a day. Just enough to whet the appetite and get a live taste of what goes on, then get redirected to a sign-up/pay screen. The whole notion of basically unlimited access to view model cams for free is ridiculous IMHO.
-- Paying members should have a time limit on how long they can use their tokens. Additionally, if you use up your tokens and don't purchase more within a certain time frame, your privileges are suspended. Too many folks cough up 20 bucks to buy the first batch of tokens just to get "lifetime" premium status so they can participate in chat without being muted, hang around in the lounge, etc., then never buy or tip tokens again.
-- Finally, it was stupid to use the tern "tip" in the first place. In the real world, people generally think of a tip as a gratuity above and beyond a basic wage. This leads to the mistaken notion that the models are already paid and that tips are "extra," when in reality the "tips" ARE the models' income.
I've been in rooms where there are often hundreds of members and guests viewing, but only maybe a dozen or fewer who regularly tip, and probably constitute 95% of the model's income. Why should they finance a free show for everybody else? OK, I know about the state of the economy, and not everyone can afford to buy tokens often, and many models have certain regulars that they like, who regularly contribute positively to the chat, yet aren't in a financial position to tip often. How about, in addition to the changes above, allow each model to grant a sort of "exempt" status on a small number of those individuals, to allow them continued access to their room even if their tokens expire or get used up?
The "free never pay for sex shows again" hook generates massive traffic numbers that look great to advertisers and investors and make for great publicity, but it doesn't do the models any favors.