"Luck" and its role in being a successful cam girl

[JickyJuly]

I knew someone would respond like this. So you don't care that the MFC cam score throws 80% of your fellow cam girls under the bus, just so long as you're one of the ones who benefits from a deeply flawed system?

Yes. I was wildly successful on MFC and danced on the backs of many a flailing, crying camgirl for tokens.
Actually, I started on MFC thinking it was just like a private based site, not talking and making a mess of things. My camscore was 300 at its low point and 2200 at its highest. I'm the least competitive person in the world, and MFC doesn't work for me. It hasn't been my home in years. My account there gets offline tips on occasion, and I've logged in to have a drink maybe twice a year since leaving. I accepted that the MFC machine is not what is best for me, and I make more money elsewhere.

We are in a capitalist society. The fact that camgirls are pretty and you like them doesn't change that. It's business, and MFC's business plan works for them. You, like the girls who are suggesting that more hours=their success, are suffering under the illusion that everything is equal. A girl who falls under the MFC bus isn't a victim. She won't even, necessarily, be a failure at camming. MFC isn't a big meanie crushing girls and leaving them penniless. Idiocy.

 

[SexySteph]

No-one should be ranked. Placement by room count works well elsewhere.

The elsewhere that you speak of is CB, right? That's an entirely different culture there. And I'd say that the way the rooms are sorted has a large part to do with it. There's a reason why MFC can sustain hard-core models as well as non-sexual models and CS has a lot to do with it.

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

There does need to be some way of placing models. Although random might be fun. Obviously camscore works great for MFC and the top 10% of the models. But it also makes MFC the most luck dependent of the sites. I don't know how live Jasmin works, so maybe its worse. Whales/high tipping regulars are bigger factor in the income of MFC models than other sites. They also are great for your camscore which in turn is great for your room count and future income. I think everyone agrees that landing the guys who drops 5K+tips and stick around for an hour to one month has more to do with luck than hard work.

I know in the case of SM that most models report a far more steady income, even if the peaks are far below MFC. For the most part the answer to how do I make more money on SM or Chaturbate is make sure you are not doing anything dumb (e.g horrible lighting) and spend more time camming. As this thread shows there is no consensus that this the case for MFC.

The thing I don't get is why the bottom 90% stick around (under top 2500, 2K camscore). There is a lot of discussion in US and the rest of world about income inequality. With common complaint that CEO make 500 times/ hours as the entry worker. Well guess what the same thing is true on MFC Top camscore are generally near 50,000 and those at the bottom are <100. The top models on MFC make $50-100,000/month those at the bottom make $100-$200. Using some statistical analysis I think income inequality is significantly worse on MFC than the US as a whole.

 

[AmberCutie]

The thing I don't get is why the bottom 90% stick around (under top 2500, 2K camscore).

Because it is still great money compared to other jobs a girl may end up having to find if she left MFC, I guess would be the answer to that question. Or are you asking why they wouldn't just go to a different cam site where they were able to get more visibility because of the placement working different?

 

[Worship Jaclyn]

I agree with Amber and also, everyone has different expectations of their job. I think comparing miss mfc ranks to camscore is a good way to look at this. Plenty of ladies are happy to have a lower camscore and put in way more hours than other ladies do, to get the income they desire. I do agree that other sites can typically offer a more dependable income but just like any other job, obviously income is important but your own happiness is important as well. Sites like Streamate aren't a good fit for a lot of people. I, for one, would rather make less on a site like SM than being an MFC lady with a decent camscore.

Hope my two cents are okay, I'm not trying to contribute to getting off track here!

 

[Casey]

I started at the very shy age of 18 years old and a senior in high school I remember watching aspen and thinking "wow look at the fun she is having and making money doing it" I knew I had to sign up but ended up only staying on for a month due to my other job and starting college in another country. about a few months ago I got back on as a model I am so happy I did. Luck does have a huge part to play in this business along with simple things like being nice to your viewers!! When someone logs onto the site they are getting away from reality due to stress from their work or personal life they want to have fun and smile and not feel stressed out about someone demanding tips etc. I honestly started on MFC to meet new people and just have fun until I saw the money I was making it then came to me as now a side job. You need to just have fun. I find that playing games is a great way to do well on the site who doesn't love some blackjack or caseyjack as I call it If you find yourself in a bad mood maybe not log on that day.

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

Because it is still great money compared to other jobs a girl may end up having to find if she left MFC, I guess would be the answer to that question. Or are you asking why they wouldn't just go to a different cam site where they were able to get more visibility because of the placement working different?

The latter. A 400 or 500 camscore is not that much more than min.wage and while its fine for Eastern Europe,Latin America, its hard to cam enough to make a decent living in US, Canada, and Western Europe. Why cam on a site which is so heavily favors the top models.

 

[SexySteph]

The latter. A 400 or 500 camscore is not that much more than min.wage and while its fine for Eastern Europe,Latin America, its hard to cam enough to make a decent living in US, Canada, and Western Europe. Why cam on a site which is so heavily favors the top models.

I'm betting for most girls in that range MFC isn't their only site. But there's a lure that MFC has that makes girls want to make it work for them.

 

[fandango]

Why cam on a site which is so heavily favors the top models.

I would guess that either they are still hopeful that they can turn things around and become one of the top models themselves (by working hard or getting lucky - whichever side of that argument you sit on for this thread) and then earn the big bucks themselves, they dont know about any other sites or that they are still earning enough for them to get by.

 

[JerryBoBerry]

The thing I don't get is why the bottom 90% stick around (under top 2500, 2K camscore).

The latter. A 400 or 500 camscore is not that much more than min.wage and while its fine for Eastern Europe,Latin America, its hard to cam enough to make a decent living in US, Canada, and Western Europe. Why cam on a site which is so heavily favors the top models.

Do they? According to the mycamgirl infographic 84% abandon the ship in about 5 months after joining MyFreeCams, normally spending13 hours online before quitting. It seems most that aren't doing overly well do leave. It's just there's more and more joining every day to replace them; 142 each day according to the same page.

 

[Picnic]

Not every girl joins the site to try and be a Top 20 model, even if the ranks are a big attraction of the site.

I used to work as a cashier at a drug store. I never thought, "The manager makes more than me, I should just leave. The store clearly favors them!" I was there to work. If I had truly wanted to become a manager, than I could have tried, but that's not something I ever desired.

Anyway, I think it's kind of a silly thing to ponder why a lower CS model would stay on the site. We have a vague idea about what their earnings may be via tokens, but that's really it - and that tiny bit of information still doesn't paint a full picture.

TL;DR there's such a variety of people camming and they don't all have the same goals

 

[most wanted]

I like to think that its more a matter of being "present" than "luck" .... sure opportunity may knock, (or luck may come your way)... but if you aren't there, present and accounted for to open the door and allow the luck in ... that opportunity will go knocking on the next door.

 

[samira]

Hey everyone, I'm a newbie so I don't know how things go just yet but if luck matters, I'm certainly not having any. I can't seem to get people to stay in my room or engage with me in my room. I have PM's set to friends only, so people have to talk in the room. I try to ask questions and start fun conversations, and nobody really responds. I've tried playing hangman, blackjack, clear the board: i didn't end up naked, (which was my goal) but about 2-4 people played each time i've tried to play a game. I also constantly dance on camera, like get up and dance, so I get tired after like 30mins. People haven't been requesting group or private shows either, but everyone wants Skype shows (which I'm not willing to do yet and frankly I don't get the point of them when you can do private shows ON MFC). I've tried striptease with the end goal being an oil show like every day I've been on and have never hit the tips to do so. I keep lowering my prices and that doesn't seem to be helping either, because I still haven't hit my goals. I've also tried doing yoga/flexibility shows, but people thought it was weird and left. I'm not really sure what else to do that could pique interest in me. I don't think I've figured out my time of day yet, when are most people logged on? Also what's with all the strange racial requests on MFC? Has anyone else experienced this?

Anyway, if luck is any part of this...I'm thinking I should try something else. I've never been lucky but I've always been hardworking and likable.

 

[TeganTrex]

I think one thing people aren't really mentioning is that the culture of the camming site you are working on determines how much luck is essential to the formula for success.

On MFC, Luck isn't just a part of the success formula, it's nearly goddamn necessary. If you do NOT pull in enough tokens, your placement is going down. No matter what.

On Streamate, the amount of luck necessary to compete with other models is FAR less. You can put in hours and hours and hours on Streamate and make bank and make regulars. Increased hours actually increases your rating (as far as I am aware). Luck only is really an issue because streamate can be notoriously glitchy.

Looks and personality are within people's control (to an extent). Experience, looking up selling techniques, preparing by studying the forums (both ACF and stripperweb), creating content, these are all within our control. We can make ourselves appeal MORE to certain niches, or make ourselves seem more mainstream etc. Choosing to work different sites and explore other options also is within our control.

But, especially with MFC, luck matters SO much and a mainstream look is ESPECIALLY desired there.

Something to consider.

 

[Empress Mika]

O MAI! What have you all been talking about when I wasn't on ACF a few days while I worked crazy long hours on MFC? Haha, what a great discussion and I'm so happy this is here! There has surely been way too much negativity about this going on in the Twitter land. I put a little bit of thought into this topic and here is my take on it.

I think there is both hard work and luck involved. That ratio is divided for each model, as follows:

1. Hard Work: Yourself, as the model.
As a model, you should expect to work hard on such things that include, but may not be limited to:

• Your persona
• Your appearance
• Your cam space
• Your lighting
• Logging in for *at least* 4 hours per day
• Being organized about how you want to run your room (games, tip incentives, countdowns, shows, etc)
• Keeping up with off-cam tasks such as your Twitter, keeping in touch with your regulars, videos, pictures, etc.
• Maintaining any props such as toys, whiteboards, or anything else.
• Etc

All of these things should be as refined and as organized as possible. For example, and the most important besides putting in the hours on cam, is your appearance, content and cam space and everything should fit in harmony with your persona. Your persona directly correlates with the audience you want to attract beyond just "people that tip me".

I am going to use a metaphor that I like, here. During your cam time, and especially during your shows, you are casting out a net to catch fish. The right fish.

Which brings us to...

2. Luck: Your Tippers.

While your net is cast out, you're catching fish. Inside this net, there will be different kinds of fish with our bait (ourselves). With this kind of bait, we have hopefully caught the type of fish we were looking for. There will be fish that swim away because they thought the bait was something else or they didn't like it after all. There will be fish that are caught but have no money to spend (forever or temporarily). There will be fish that are caught and are capable of spending money but won't. Then, there will be fish that are caught that are capable of spending money and are willing to part with it for you (and bonus: they keep coming back because the bait is too good to resist). Obviously, as models, we want the last kind of fish (but it also the most rare of fish). Every shift.

Which brings us to...

3. Bonus! You can also make your own luck, to a certain degree.

I think you can create your own luck, to a point. For example, maybe there is a great fish swimming around but you were never able to get that fish in your net because he swims at a different time or different day than when you have been fishing. This means that, if you log in at different shifts or work longer hours, you could get a different catch. Or, as another example, if you work longer hours, your current catches and yourself will be able to create more great memories together to strengthen the bond, which is also a great thing!

4. Extra!

Now, others have stated that models need to be pretty and what have you. I wouldn't use the word "pretty" as much as I'd say a look combined with the right persona that is able to cast out a larger net that will catch more fish (and more of the right kind of fish). Meaning, your look appeals to a wider audience of people or even if you have a look and persona that is more unique. If you have bait has never been seen or is very rarely encountered in the seas, the fish have no choice but to go to you for this type. At first, this sound like it could be a good thing (as there is no competition) but it can also mean limiting yourself to a smaller net in which case it may take longer to develop or may flop all together.

Anyway! Moving away from my silly fish metaphor and everything else, I think this is the basic recipe. Even though there is luck and hard work involved, it's unwise to state that a model does well because she *mostly* works hard or was *mostly* lucky. I believe it was a combination and balance, as I stated above. I think that is why it's offensive when someone says to *just* work harder or that someone *just* got lucky if they are successful. I myself was accused of being lucky as the main reason I did so well on MFC immediately because of my look, which was very difficult to hear. It didn't validate the hard work I put in with my persona nor the fact that my bait (arg, the fish metaphor again) is unique (I haven't seen anyone else performing Asian-esce shows on a regular basis)?

I think we would all be better off to acknowledge both of these aspects (luck and hard work) and to encourage each other to work towards being the best we can be on cam and even in our personal lives (which many of us choose to share a bit, in the model side of the forums). These forums are great step to accomplishing this goal! There seems to be plenty of money and people in this industry with so many different tastes and styles that it serves no purpose to see other girl's failures as our success or anything of the sort.

Here's to one, big, happy community! Cheers ^_~

 

[Ambers Troll]

I like to think that its more a matter of being "present" than "luck" .... sure opportunity may knock, (or luck may come your way)... but if you aren't there, present and accounted for to open the door and allow the luck in ... that opportunity will go knocking on the next door.

This is exactly it, more than that on the member side of things we don't play chance too often with our selection. We may do something quite random, pick our moments, wait for something we like, but usually quite a lot goes on before we tip, especially when we tip more than once.

To the model because some member visits can be quick and seemingly quite random, it may appear to be a matter of luck they arrive and tip. Almost always when a model gets lucky, the model is doing what works well for her, and in the right head space to take advantage of opportunities that come her way.


It is a bit hard to explain, will try an example:
I was enjoying a show 2 days ago, spending as normal, as it got into a rhythm, I glanced down at the preview of someone I knew, loved what I saw and decided to leave the show and to tip this model (with compliment). It was not luck she was there, nor me having the setting on preview, what she was doing or what she was wearing was not luck, it wasn't even luck that I glanced down.
So I make my tip/ compliment in tip note, she responds moments later. I tip again, tip note on leaving a fun show just to compliment her. She does her thing and inspires me to show her just how much I enjoy her, and I tip big. This happens within 30 seconds, then I leave in part because just on my tip she moved on to the next thing she had planned missing any future opportunity. She knew she missed the moment too, so didn't ruin future opportunity by chasing me. She did send me a video immediately after the tip as compensation.
Will I be back?.. Of course, at some point, might be for a moment, and it could be in months time. Most likely next time my eye wanders to her. Her behaviour and ability to enjoy such moments ensures this. This ability to be open, relaxed, and genuine while alert to others mood takes a lot of skill. To label it as her getting lucky is to deny the models' hard work, the things she has done to be tip-worthy, and her good heart. It is no surprise this model get's more luck than most (consistent top 20 model).

 

[SaffronBurke]

The "just work more hours" advice doesn't work for everyone, because it's simply not an option for some of us.

Using myself as an example (and keeping in mind that I'm on SM), here's my typical day, Mon-Fri:

Wake up, put on clothes, feed cats, go to vanilla job. Spend the duration alternating between working the piddling volume that comes in and reading. Go home, feed cats, watch a couple episodes of something on Netflix as I my hair and makeup, change clothes, straighten up my room, and log on to cam. Cam for 2-3 hours, log off, take off makeup, take a bath, eat dinner, go to bed. As it is, I'm spending 7 hours a night in bed, with an average of 2 hours to fall asleep because I have never been able to go to sleep quickly, so I'm getting about five hours of sleep a night. So, more hours on cam? Awesome, shall I stop bathing, or is less sleep a better option?


Now, on Saturday and Sunday, when I can work a longer shift... After an 8-10hr shift, I'm currently bringing in what I used to manage in 2-3hrs - a measly $40.

I've had a shocking drop in income since last year, and I have tried many things to fix it - upgraded my cam and lighting, different setups, different music/makeup/outfits/biopics.... But it's hard to make money when you go 20 minutes or more without anyone in your room - and I'm mid-bottom of the first page or top of the second depending on how many models are on, and row 2 of BBW. I'm considering what other sites are options, because SM clearly doesn't have any traffic for me anymore, but every other site I've tried, I've made even less on, so that's a scary consideration.

 

[AmberCutie]

When I am on the member side (I have 2 premium accounts, one people know is me, another completely secret to everyone) I participate in a way that supports the "luck" theory. I will scroll through the homepage, sorted by camscore and Miss MFC rank, with cam previews on. If I see a view that looks tempting I will enter. If she happens to be doing something at that exact moment I enter, or within moments of me coming in that completely awes me, I will buy tokens and tip very generously. Luck was that I was there, with the willingness and ability to tip thousands of tokens, when she did just that precise thing that inspired my generosity.

Yes, she did need to be on cam for that to happen. (Supporting the creating her own luck, put more time on cam theory).

But it also supports the luck theory. (The fact that I, as a big tipper, who could impact her goals and possibly camscore, happened to tune in at right that moment.) Maybe I was the only one to tip more than 30 tokens that day, and she would have given up and logged off in a minute had that big tip not arrived. Then she continues her show and makes thousands more...

Yes, Girls need to be on cam, put in the time. But some may be on for hours without this whim happening to push things forward many days out of the month, while others have it happen frequently. Luck, chance, timing...

 

[JerryBoBerry]

When I am on the member side (I have 2 premium accounts, one people know is me, another completely secret to everyone) I participate in a way that supports the "luck" theory. I will scroll through the homepage, sorted by camscore and Miss MFC rank, with cam previews on. If I see a view that looks tempting I will enter. If she happens to be doing something at that exact moment I enter, or within moments of me coming in that completely awes me, I will buy tokens and tip very generously. Luck was that I was there, with the willingness and ability to tip thousands of tokens, when she did just that precise thing that inspired my generosity.

Yes, she did need to be on cam for that to happen. (Supporting the creating her own luck, put more time on cam theory).

But it also supports the luck theory. (The fact that I, as a big tipper, who could impact her goals and possibly camscore, happened to tune in at right that moment.) Maybe I was the only one to tip more than 30 tokens that day, and she would have given up and logged off in a minute had that big tip not arrived. Then she continues her show and makes thousands more...

Yes, Girls need to be on cam, put in the time. But some may be on for hours without this whim happening to push things forward many days out of the month, while others have it happen frequently. Luck, chance, timing...

This reminds me of room raids where the lady doing them asks the room for ideas on which room to go to next. Not only does the model that is about to be raided have to be online, but some member who also happens to know of her has to be in the original room and suggest it.

 

[Ambers Troll]

This reminds me of how often I see the same random member in random models' rooms. This is not coincidence, we are selecting the same type of model (even those who seem different).
There must be hundreds of random tippers, willing to spend thousands of tokens at a time on at any moment looking for just that right type of model. Guess that is why luck tends to come with company, and leave just as fast when it isn't taken advantage of.
It is arrogant of a member to assume they as an individual make much difference to success for a model without her helping herself too (Even those of us that will drop thousands of tokens on someone on impulse). I have seen countless models waste opportunity, and stop good members spending on them, it is very rarely top ranked/ high camscore models.

 

[Azhrarn]

I've heard lots of members complain about how the camscore system is super flawed. How else would you suggest girls be ranked on the home page? Camscore is the way that makes sense. And while I'm one of the girls that believes luck plays a big factor in helping you get a boost, I also believe that camscore is 85% EARNED by what you put into it. Put in a lot of work you'll have an alright camscore. Put in a lot of work and get lucky, you'll have a crazy good camscore.

If your taste in girls isn't what the majority is into on MFC, fine, use the search feature. But getting rid of camscore just seems silly, there's no other way to rank. (And don't suggest room count, that'd be even more flawed because then it'd just be a system of who has more vagina on their feed.)

I'm not going to argue that camscore is largely earned. It's like inertia. If you're already successful, camscore helps you remain successful. You're like a surfer riding a wave. However, if you are new or struggling, then camscore is like swimming against the tide. However, camscore alone is woefully insufficient. The criticism I have, is that camscore ought to be supplemented by other things, which MFC is deliberately preventing.

Camscore is like a website telling me I should check out band X even though band X might be into death metal and I fucking can't stand death metal. Or god forbid rap/hip hop which is like 1000 times worse. Music charts are divided into categories so that people don't waste time checking out groups they will never have any interest in. It would be really cool if MFC had a similar feature, that way I could just ignore all the anorexic/underage looking spoiled brat models, or the pierced/tattooed/cum show every night models, or the alcoholic/pot head models, etc, just the same way I can choose to ignore all models from south america, or europe.

Another feature which is sorely missing is a ranking and comment system, where members can rate cam girls on such things as: does this girl actually deliver the content she advertises, does she ban people for no reason (I've seen girls ban members just because their usernames reminded them of an ex), does she have a poor attitude, does she spend all her time in shows texting on her phone or chatting with just her sugar daddy?

I wish I could search for girls more to my liking, but I can't because the MFC search feature is worse than useless. Just one of its many flaws is that it is biased in favor of girls who are currently online. Another is that there is no ability to combine search criteria.

Ideally, all of these things would be combined into one search feature. That way I could search for girls who, for example, had a "girl next door" look, who had an extremely high member satisfaction score, who had a certain hair color, eye color, etc.

The way things are now, it's very hard for members to actually search for models, so I think most members just follow the path of least resistance and start with the girls at the top of the page and then work their way downwards, which of course benefits the top models, but for the members is time consuming, boring, and completely unsatisfactory.

 

[AmberCutie]

Another feature which is sorely missing is a ranking and comment system, where members can rate cam girls on such things as: does this girl actually deliver the content she advertises, does she ban people for no reason (I've seen girls ban members just because their usernames reminded them of an ex), does she have a poor attitude, does she spend all her time in shows texting on her phone or chatting with just her sugar daddy?

I wish I could search for girls more to my liking, but I can't because the MFC search feature is worse than useless. Just one of its many flaws is that it is biased in favor of girls who are currently online. Another is that there is no ability to combine search criteria.

Ideally, all of these things would be combined into one search feature. That way I could search for girls who, for example, had a "girl next door" look, who had an extremely high member satisfaction score, who had a certain hair color, eye color, etc.

I think MFC operates this way for a couple of reasons, among others:

1. They let their models have the freedom to run their room however they want, which includes banning for any reason, just sitting around texting on her phone while she waits for a private or a tip for her countdown, only focusing on her biggest spenders. Freedom is lovely. Having a ranking system that would punish her for choosing to run her room that way would be counterintuitive to that freedom.

2. MFC is a social site. The allure is that aspect. If MFC started focusing on how to narrow down searches so precisely, it would feel like models are more of a commodity, objects to be sought out and purchased (from) as opposed to a social experience. There are some loose search functions available, but ultimately you still have to wander around and find the right vibe on your own instead of dwindling down a list of traits.

As for the rest of the rude comments and tone to the post I took a snippet from... holy smokes. Good riddance.

 

[rosewalker23]

The "just work more hours" advice doesn't work for everyone, because it's simply not an option for some of us.

Using myself as an example (and keeping in mind that I'm on SM), here's my typical day, Mon-Fri:

Wake up, put on clothes, feed cats, go to vanilla job. Spend the duration alternating between working the piddling volume that comes in and reading. Go home, feed cats, watch a couple episodes of something on Netflix as I my hair and makeup, change clothes, straighten up my room, and log on to cam. Cam for 2-3 hours, log off, take off makeup, take a bath, eat dinner, go to bed. As it is, I'm spending 7 hours a night in bed, with an average of 2 hours to fall asleep because I have never been able to go to sleep quickly, so I'm getting about five hours of sleep a night. So, more hours on cam? Awesome, shall I stop bathing, or is less sleep a better option?


Now, on Saturday and Sunday, when I can work a longer shift... After an 8-10hr shift, I'm currently bringing in what I used to manage in 2-3hrs - a measly $40.

I've had a shocking drop in income since last year, and I have tried many things to fix it - upgraded my cam and lighting, different setups, different music/makeup/outfits/biopics.... But it's hard to make money when you go 20 minutes or more without anyone in your room - and I'm mid-bottom of the first page or top of the second depending on how many models are on, and row 2 of BBW. I'm considering what other sites are options, because SM clearly doesn't have any traffic for me anymore, but every other site I've tried, I've made even less on, so that's a scary consideration.

Your schedule is similar to mine. I work in a school (so my hours can run longer or shorter depending on student needs). I really only have two hours to work with but I try to just be consistent with those two hours and realistic with my goals. I also understand that I am niche so I'll never be front page. If I don't meet a goal in the two hours, I appoligize and give the members some teasy fun for their time, but I never compromise the goal. I only make like 200-300 tokens in that time but I have been randomly lucky with more. I just try to bank on making maybe $10-15 extra dollars a day and being happy with it because it really isn't much work and its very therapeutic. I think it really is all about expectations. There is only so much money to be spent and it doesn't mean you are not amazing and beautiful. I'm trying to make people feel better but I really hope I didn't offend. I'm very nice, I promise!

 

[HarleyRoseLee]

When it comes to odds, luck, and chance, I think it's also important to acknowlege that the landscape of camming has changed a lot over the years and that is a factor.

You've always had to work hard to get anywhere and maintain your success, but with the number of performers growing it becomes absolutely essential and your odds of "lucking" into the golden combo of fans, supporters and tippers is much harder. In the not too distant past there weren't as many models and camming itself was something that was still sort of underground. As more people become aware of camming's existence yes, traffic increases, but so do the number of models trying to get a piece of the pie. I compare it to television. In the early days you had a couple of channels, no remote, and your choices were the news, a variety show, or a sit-com. Now, you have a bazillion choices of what to watch and for every Game of Thrones that's super popular right off the bat, there's a Firefly that just can't make it work in primetime no matter how good it is. Arguably, Firefly had crappy marketing and even crappier Network support and its fanbase eventually grew despite all that (yay!), but when it was first out it tanked horribly and that was something Joss Whedon as the creator had very little control over.

Also, the nature of camming has changed. In the early days I'm sure it was a lot rarer to go to a camsite and see a woman doing a softcore show and playing guitar. It's more common now, and gives models a great way to engage members, but back when it was just one model (Let's call her Jenny, because of Forrest Gump) she was a novelty so her chances for standing out were higher. On a site like MFC where there's so much variety putting in lots of hours, innovating and adapting DO help your chances of success, but there is still that spark of random chance outside of your control. Yes, if Jenny had never picked up her guitar and said, "Hey, I wonder if guys would pay for me to play songs for them in my underwear!" she would not have succeeded. But if the right members hadn't found her and decided, "Yes! Yes we will pay you to play songs for us in your underwear!" then we wouldn't be talking about Jenny today.

As to whether it's fair in the strictest sense of the term, probably not, but when you put yourself out there as an entertainer/small business owner that's the risk you take. You trade reliability for freedom. It doesn't always mean you don't work hard enough or that you suck. Sometimes things aren't going to happen and that's ok. What you do have control over is your agency. Whether that means you choose to work harder, reinvent yourself, change tactics, or walk away entirely all that power is yours and that should never be forgotten!