Life of a webcam model in a romanian studio!

[Evvie]

While it might be Frankenstein'd, it's still a good bit of information to have, and maybe new Romanian studio models could further elaborate and share their experiences.

I find it sad that some of the more popular models from USA/Canada are constantly mocking and making jokes of the studio models on cam, while I'm sure most of them are completely ignorant of their situations.

I agree...

A north American worker shaming a European worker is like a camgirl shaming a prostitute.

We're all sex workers, so get over yerselves.

 

[dcpublius]

I'm generally against cam studios in general because they cut into girls earnings.

No girl who has some experience and a computer should ever work in a studio.

However, there are girls that are simply poor, uneducated and don't know how to do any of this stuff. Particularly in Manila/Thailand, these girls will not have ever used a computer or even know what a "cam" is. For them, studios provide ready opportunity to start making some money and if they are smart, they will eventually set out on their own. You might think it's horrible that they make $200/month for working all day, but wages and living conditions are not the same in those countries. If you're a poor country girl in Midanao, camming for $200/month is a lot better than working all day in the rice patties for $50/month (or more likely for free if they are with a family). This is similar to people who complain that factory workers in China get paid less than factory workers in US - even though the Chinese workers are very happy to have those jobs. Poor countries do not just become rich overnight and one day a person gets paid $100/month and next day they get paid $3000/month. It takes time.

You have to work a number of hours,you don't have legal working papers,You can't(or you are not allowed) do outdoors shows or any other kind of interesting shows or contests,you have no privacy(studios employees like tech support guys,trainers and managers have full access on everything that you do on your pc; rooms may look personal but not really, like if Im in a show trying to please myself besides my moans, guys could hear the girl next door laughing crying swearing and even farting or the cleaning lady using the vacuum) ,you have to share your income with them(and trust me...you have to give a big percent of what you are making),to many girls working at the same time(this can generates so many frictions between them),sexual harassment

I have no idea what you expected from a cam studio. All of this seems like pretty common sense policies. Did you really think they wouldn't expect you to put in the hours? Or deduct social welfare taxes from your paycheck? Or let you roam the yard and outside doing shows, drawing bad attention to the studio from police and neighbors? Or let you do things other than camming on *their* computers during *working hours*? Or give you huge private rooms (that stuff costs money)? Etc. You seem to be just complaining. This IS what a cam studio is - a shared space with everything setup for you so you don't have to do any setup. It's a place of work, not to hang out and relax in a nice living space. It's a working space, not a living space.

 

[BenLawers]

A few weeks ago I read about some police raids on cam studios in other countries where models seems to be forced to broadcast for very little money. Beside the fact that I have no illusion about the economic situation in Rumania and the high unemplyment rate - is the situation for models still that way it is described above?

I've never been in Romania but have some contacts to people there. (My company has an outsourcing partner in Timisoara and I had the pleasure to come to know a nice guy from the University in Iasi.) They told me that the Webcam business is still controlled by criminal organizations. Especially in Iasi there seems to be a huge number of studios where models are exploited if they couldn't afford an own appartment and/or an own highspeed connection or even a proper PC and a HD cam.

That sadens me. Because I've come to know a really personable model who's working in a studio and sometimes I have the feeling that she seems to be unhappy. It was very easy to reseach that she's working in a studio in Iasi called "Night Whisper".

I'm not a stalker, honest. But I was alarmed by the fact that there is always the same guy in her chatroom who probably could see messages of me only the model should see. So I asked her and she explained that he was only a friend. I couldn't say that I'm confident with this. There is still a bitter taste regarding to the information above. And due to my own profession - fraud prevention - I have seen to many bad things.

So if anyone could say anything about the current situation of models in romanian studios.

Thanks!

 

[Falke]

A few weeks ago I read about some police raids on cam studios in other countries where models seems to be forced to broadcast for very little money. Beside the fact that I have no illusion about the economic situation in Rumania and the high unemplyment rate - is the situation for models still that way it is described above?

I've never been in Romania but have some contacts to people there. (My company has an outsourcing partner in Timisoara and I had the pleasure to come to know a nice guy from the University in Iasi.) They told me that the Webcam business is still controlled by criminal organizations. Especially in Iasi there seems to be a huge number of studios where models are exploited if they couldn't afford an own appartment and/or an own highspeed connection or even a proper PC and a HD cam.

That sadens me. Because I've come to know a really personable model who's working in a studio and sometimes I have the feeling that she seems to be unhappy. It was very easy to reseach that she's working in a studio in Iasi called "Night Whisper".

I'm not a stalker, honest. But I was alarmed by the fact that there is always the same guy in her chatroom who probably could see messages of me only the model should see. So I asked her and she explained that he was only a friend. I couldn't say that I'm confident with this. There is still a bitter taste regarding to the information above. And due to my own profession - fraud prevention - I have seen to many bad things.

So if anyone could say anything about the current situation of models in romanian studios.

Thanks!

To my knowledge, there aren't any Romanian studio models who regularly read/post on this forum, so unfortunately you probably aren't going to get real insider answers as opposed to what people see from a member's perspective. I have no real expertise or knowledge outside of my chats with some Romanian models who do work in studios, but it seemed like your concerns were worth a response from someone. Sorry for the following wall o' text.

My own probably terribly naive sense is that studios really vary, like other businesses or even models on MFC. Some studios seem relatively legit, but others aren't. Then again, most independent models are honest, but unfortunately some aren't. While I don't doubt that there are terrible, exploitative studios and/or studios involved with organized crime, my guess (wishful thinking, maybe?) is that lurid stories get a lot of attention while relatively mundane businesses are more the reality.

When you say there is someone in the chatroom, do you mean that there is actually someone physically in the room with her? Or are you talking about another person online in her MFC chatroom?

In addition to not allowing men in the same room, MFC actually does have a rule against cam "operators" (people typing for the model), but clearly enforcement is sporadic at best. I have gotten messages in first person ("what can I do for you?" "want a private with me?") from a model when both her hands are clearly ... ahem ... busy ... which is really unsettling. I would also add that reporting it to MFC will almost certainly just result in her account being warned or closed, so that is something to keep in mind. Even if there isn't an operator, I know that the bosses at some studios have access to PMs and public chat, though how much monitoring happens surely varies by the individual studio or boss. I suspect that most of what gets said is really just noise to them. Reading what happens in chat often on multiple sites must become pretty tedious and boring.

As far as your further interaction with the model goes, it's really your call. I understand that it's a tough decision if you like the model but also don't want to indirectly support something that might be exploitative, even if that is the camming business in Romania more generally. For what it's worth, my absolute favorite model is a very sweet, funny, sexy Romanian who works at a studio, though she has a room to herself and some of her friends work in other rooms at the same time. She's a student, but she has a work schedule and earnings goals like she might with other jobs. So, it's not like all Romanian studios necessarily are keeping models penned up. In fact, she has made clear to me that she likes her current arrangement. She has fun, and it pays better than other work she did. I think she could cam successfully on her own, so I dislike that there's a studio getting a cut and making rules for her, but that's ultimately her business, not mine. I like to hang out with her, so I still chat with her, tip her, and so on.

It really comes down to a question of whether you still want to interact with the one model despite the studio. Of course there are scattered stories of people helping models who wanted out of bad situations with studios, so this may come off as incredibly callous, but... I also think that with Romanian and other Eastern European models in particular, some men fall too easily into the notion of wanting to save someone who in all likelihood does not feel the need to be saved, nor actually need to be saved.

Anyway, those are my :twocents-02cents: and I would love for anyone with better knowledge to correct me :-D