I admit, this is my peculiarity perhaps, but I don't get the camgirl thing, either regarding the men who watch them or the women who perform in them.
The point must be that, as opposed to conventional porn (filmed or photographed), the woman is actually "there" and one can actually "talk" to her and maybe get her to do some things on request.
So it's a digital peep show. I never fantasized about peep shows when they did exist, much less patronize them. Anyway, the woman isn't actually there and no one is truly talking to her. The latter can be seen in the endless. meaningless "chat" that is displayed on the site.
Conventional porn has the advantage of not having pretenses about itself. It's a product, and makes no bones about it. (Although more and more of it is free; I guess they're going for advertising revenue.) One doesn't usually have any idea of who the people in it are. There are porn stars, although usually they are under a nom de porn. It anything real comes out about them, it's usually after they have retired and written a tell-all book about it. Of course, there are many amateurs exhibiting themselves, but again there is no pretense of interacting with them.
I also don't understand the women who do these things. They must love the validation it gives them. Somehow having countless (thirsty?) guys praising them and obviously jerking-off about them gives them tingles. As I said, the chat is worse than pointless.
That's my take on it.
I think a lot of guys like the "interactive" element of it, and also the idea of building some kind of relationship with the girl over a period of time. From what I've seen, professional camgirls (and guys, I guess) build up a really strong, loyal following who become their main source of income. To most random passers-by, it's just another naked girl on the screen, but some people get really invested in one or two models.
Other guys who go on these cam websites and just pick whoever takes their fancy that night, I guess it's just something different from porn. Like going to a strip club, but you can sit in your bedroom and play with your cock while you watch her.
For the girls, I would imagine it's mostly the money that draws them to it. For those who put a lot of work into it (building social media presence, bespoke videos, private shows, etc.), it can be very lucrative, from what I understand. Even for "amateurs", it might just be a bit of supplemental income for basically getting naked in front of a camera of an evening. Of course, I'm sure many find it sexually gratifying in itself, too. Exhibitionism is alive and well in 2020.
Basically, there is a demand, and enterprising men and women are capitalising on it. Sex sells.
I've been a chatter, a chat admin, and my Baileykins was a camgirl for years. I've been behind the curtain, and I know what those girls are saying when they shut the cam off, as well as what happens in the private shows.
The guys who are spending the money ( as opposed to the people there looking for free peeks ) are often very lonely for one reason or another. What a ( good ) camgirl provides is a pseudo relationship that helps to fill that yawning void. As often as not, those private shows have very little that's sexual about them. It can be hours of simply talking to an attractive woman, which is something they don't expect to ever experience in their real life.
The other thing is guys with kinks that they're afraid to reveal. A good camgirl has all sorts of weird accessories readily at hand to satisfy those. Baby oil. Balloons of every shape, size, and color. A multitude of outfits, heels, etc.
The rest is just guys who want to direct the action. There's probably something in particular that really turns them on, and doesn't show up very often in repetitive professional porn videos or poorly shot/lighted amateur videos.
As to the camgirls, the good ones enjoy the attention, and enjoy fulfilling the needs of the guys ( and a few girls ) who show up in their room. They know it's not a way to make a living, but rather a way to make some extra cash on the side. Unfortunately, a lot of them are trying to make a living of it, for a variety of reasons. They typically burn out quickly in today's environment where there is too much competition and too many sites spreading out the paying customers too thin. Cultivating and maintaining a large enough following to achieve a steady income is nearly impossible, and requires spending most of the day promoting themselves. They're working twelve or more hours a day just to barely get by.
The motivations are as varied as people. Some are desperate. Lost their jobs, or can't find one, or got out of a relationship and find themselves without support in a place far from family, etc. There's always a few who are on drugs, and using it as a means to support their habit. Some are simply using it as a safer alternative to straight up prostitution. Feeds coming out of other countries ( the former Soviet bloc countries in particular are bad about this ) may be either full on forced, or blackmailed into being on cam.
That's just the camgirl sites. It gets even weirder once you start getting into onlyfans, premium snap, etc.
Most girls are finding that the only way to make real money nowadays is to both be on live cam as well as producing custom/kink videos that are available for purchase. The days when you could make $600 a week after taxes just being on cam 6 hours a day are long, long gone. ( As are sites that actually pay models as employees as opposed to independent contractors )
The girls who have either a studio address or a PO Box someone else can pick things up from ( if they're wise ) and have cultivated a following are often sent things as well. Off the top of my head I can think of several expensive lingerie outfits, a leather corset, a chainmail bikini, 8 or 9 nice necklaces/bracelets/ankle bracelets/hood rings that Bailey got over the years. Not to mention half a dozen new toys. They'll send stuff to see her wearing/using it, and after that point, it becomes part of her arsenal. Upgrades to cams, computers, etc. aren't unusual either. Some of the sites even have blind ways for people to order things ( usually toys and lingerie ) where it gets sent to the model by the site. The site naturally profits from directing customers to the sales site.
It's nearly impossible to make a living at it nowadays, but a girl who can pay her bills without it can pick up some nice perks. The money is easy for an exhibitionist with an outgoing personality, it can be done at home whenever they feel like it with a reasonable internet connection, damn near any computer, and even a webcam. They can almost make a living at it, but it's the almost that's the problem. Anxiety about paying the bills is a camgirl's worst enemy.
There is a degree of celebrity to it as well. It can be a thrill to have all these guys turning up every day for you on the site. Getting recognized out in public can be exciting, awkward, creepy, or even dangerous. Kind of a crapshoot there.
Girls in their 30s and 40s have a more specialized audience, but there are a lot more paying customers and fewer freeloaders among them. The freeloaders are all off perving on the 19/20 year olds, and the desperate girls finger-banging in free chat, while the lonely guys with money are often drawn to someone who is even slightly more "in their league". Just being hot isn't enough once they get a little older. They have to cultivate those relationships to keep the money coming in.
Most make the mistake of starting to "give it away" with lots of free peeks when the money slows down because it fills their rooms up. That just fills it up with freeloaders, though. The people willing to open their wallets can't have a decent conversation amidst that cacophony of "get yer kit off" "shoe my u oussy plzzzzz!" and that keeps them from pulling the trigger. The girls who do it infrequently ( or "accidentally" when they end up back in free chat after a private show ) and make the guys work for it do better because the freeloaders move on, and it encourages interaction, which is where the real income potential is.
It also becomes a job rather quickly, I should imagine. You have some element of that with camgirls, but they have a lot more leeway to just say to hell with it if they don't feel like performing that day, unless they're one of the rare studio girls, or foolishly trying to make a living of it.
That's exactly why I've never published any of my work for pay. As soon as I consider it, it starts feeling like a job instead of a diversion, and I sour on the whole process.
