Please be aware that posts are censored.

Apparently raising awareness to their user community is not something they want. Unless it is the sunshine they want to blow up your pipes.

What post is censored? And what awareness is that?

Attempted to document the devaluation of existing credits with the partial credit system and overall credit price jump; 1.6 from 1 & 2

Included a more appropriate measure than to effectively rob current patrons and their outstanding balance of credits.

Oh, I see. Well, your attemp was noticed, you were told to not use derogatory affirmations toward the membership. That is not censorship, those are the rules you will follow to express yourself here.

And your views about "robbery" are not necessarily shared by the whole membership. When it comes to money, everybody is rather aware of the what they pay and free to decide if they want to spend it and on what. You dislike the raise, understandable, is your money. Is this a robbery? No, you're free to not pay for the product. This is a luxory item, is porn. It cost what it cost and the raises were announced long ago.

Announced where? If I told you your current money was worth $.60 less per $1.00 you SHOULD rightfully criticize that as *****.

Adjusting the cost for new products is acceptable per my censored post. And this was announced where exactly?

Because so many sheeple are ignorant they may simply not be drawing the conclusion that they are effectively losing money on current balances. Otherwise I'm not sure how they are okay with this.

Not sure what in there was in ***** of blahblah other than perhaps calling BS! Which is a laughable exclusion for a, as you put it, porn based product.

@Huzbub
Not sure you are aware but this is a moderated forum on a commercial website. The price increase comes after the company lost half a million dollar last year. The cost of the content hasn't changed in the last eight years. If the company need to raise the price marginally to stay in business I for one is willing and able to pay that little extra to keep this enterprise going.

Looking back the quality of the content has evolved considerably in the last eight years and as I understand so has the cost to produce the content. Paying 2 or even 3 dollar for a 30 min erotic show that I can watch over and over again isn't that much... and definitely not robbery!

Where were these changes announced?

http://www.virtuagirl.com/forumPost.php?foId=6&ftId=27887

You are not allowed to see this topic or access data relative to this topic

And in many posts after this the subject has been explained by the Team on several occasion.

Missing the point completely.

So, you walk into the restaurant and they say, welcome to meaty mart, you will need to purchase tokens to pay for your meal. Your meal will cost 10 tokens. You may purchase your ten tokens for $10.00. "oh okay, here's $10.00 for my tokens!".

Five minutes later you go to order and they inform you that they've changed the value of your tokens. You now, and going forward, need to pay $16.00 for your 10 tokens.

OH - so my current tokens wont pay for my MeatyMcMeatMeat platter? Can I get my tokens back? "No sir, you may not."

Now multiply this devaluation across everyone already in the (virtual) restaurant. Would this be a problem so much if you told each new customer the rates and maintained the value once invested. I think not. I think what you are failing to see is that it is NOT just a change in the cost per model but a change to the value of your current balance as implemented. It no longer has the same buying power it did when you invested in the tokens.

To your point without some legitimate reference I respectfully disbelieve the 1/2 million dollar loss. Regardless - On new purchases, again, it is then up to the consumer on the new rates. My solution would have avoided any and all of these problems.

Change the up front cost of the tokens. Discount new tokes as appropriate per membership levels.

Allows a sustainable cost model going forward without changing current values.

They (VG/DB) know the users email addresses via registration - That would be a better way to share updates than in the basement of an abandoned building in a locked filing cabinet.

Translation it is not a reasonable expectation of existing clients to track forum updates which alter their current investment in tokens. Thus my suggestion on a much better way to implement an intelligent strategic pricing model, and when I say better I mean for the current clients. Clients are what make this work and pulling dollar bills from their wallets (token balance) will not endear them to the service being provided.

Looks like your analog is flaw. You still have your 10 tokens and can pay with them... but next time you buy tokens they cost more...

The fact is that the change the company have made to the system makes most of the cards cheaper to buy with credits since you now can buy all cards at a constant discount price. Before you had to wait for the card to come one sale if you wanted to buy it for only 1 credit, otherwise the standard cost was 2 credits. Now you can buy almost all cards whenever you want to at a lower price. The big news is that the subscriptions are gone, there in lies the big change in price per card.

At the same time the Team have created a new standard of content and given this new standard a higher price... but this is a separate product with a separate price, and yes you still pay with credits but just as a cheeseburger at McD is cheaper than a Big Mac the new and higher quality content is more expensive than the older stuff.

About the company loss, that came directly from the company CEO so if you don't believe me ask him. His nick is REX and he's the big boss around here =)

First and foremost it's totem's company to do what the what and charge what they want. I have no problem with that at all. I own a company myself and I dictate cost.

I have to admit a bit of sticker shock myself as the price increase percentage was substantially more than I expected. But now that the new software is workable and Maria may aka Malena is coming to VG. I guess I'll have to decide how I want to spend my dollars on credits.

But to be fair it is understandable that some users feel that any credits they already had on hand have been devalued. Some time ago I bought 50 credits for $50 with the expectation of buying 50 cards. I bought 26 cards for 26 credits before the new pricing and I have 24 credits left but those 24 credits will no longer buy me 24 cards.

I guess another way to look at would be the credits still cost the same but no longer provide the same purchasing power.

In the end it make no difference as VG promised me 50 credits for $50 not 50 cards for $50 so in the end they delivered. It is now up to me to decide how I want to continue.

Concerning your claim of......
"Please be aware that posts are censored."

You're way off base. Nothing's been censored and that is a false accusation. Not a good first impression Huzbub.

Seems that your whole complaint is based on a price increase from 1 credit to 1.6 credits. It's flawed.

Standard pricing for all cards has always been 2 credits per card. The carousel pricing of 1 credit was not standard pricing, it was a discounted price. Discontinuing the discounted pricing through the carousel did not raise the standard pricing.

Basically, you're ***** that your price is 1.6 credits instead of the standard 2 credits. That makes sense how ?

It is called a monopolized monetary system. Stop defending a poor business move for a lack of understanding. Take a few moments to listen and consider - please.

Given a standardized monetary system you get to vote with your money. Once vested you have pre-invested in a system you are subject to. How is this any different than them saying your current bank account is null and void. Your only option is to purchase new credits?

Stop defending a mistake.

You are wrong. You made a purchase with certain expectations. Those were changed AFTER the fact. New purchase prices are viable but retroactive ones are not a viable business transaction.

I would love for there to be someone else as an advocate for the consumers. I don't care how much you love boobies, I do too but this is simply wrong.

Junger ---- what are you talking about? The price to purchase tokens remains the same and the cost per model has gone up. Am I mistaken? There is not a value gain.

Again - it seems people have lost sight of the fact that it is a pre-purchase credit system on this and not a open market. You may not decide that you are fed up and say, which many of you appear to be brainwashed into thinking otherwise, that you can spend those credits otherwise, go use them in another fashion.

Clearly I am failing to explain some basic economics and that is frustrating for certain.

A new economy is acceptable.

Violating the previously understood ratio is not.


I'm looking to the heavens for just one other person to understand how this is backwards in more than one way.

I'm struggling not to point out the previous posts attempt to use 'big words' incorrectly.

Frankly - there is no point. My effort was not remediation as I suspect that is not viable as we have no power (other than to use our credits, voices and IQ's to illustrate a failure on the attempt to course correct a flawed system).

"There's a sucker born every minute" is a phrase most likely spoken by David Hannum, in criticism of both P. T. Barnum, an American showman of the mid 1800s, and his customers. The phrase is often credited to Barnum himself. It means "Many people are gullible, and we can expect this to continue."

The only defense is to be at least as smart as the person who is parting you with your money. Clearly I'm alone in this endeavor.

Raise the price to $100 per NEW customer - fine. Do not rob current customers of their investment.

For the record, were there a plea from the owners of this establishment and a reputable effort to make course corrections to aim for a profitable while reasonable product I would be entirely onboard. Quite factually I would support this as a kick-starter type of program. Alas retroactively changing the value of my investment on a token based system is unfair.

At what point my friends would you indeed be upset? A small, vast or complete devaluation of your invest?

Only valid credits going forward must be pink ones. Those are only available next month. Oh wait -the following month we will only accept purple ones. So all pink ones shall be null and void. Also those tokens are only valid on Tuesdays.

A new rate is subject to a decision per the consumer. A change of the previous understanding is not.

Hitler versus the USA. I'm running out of ways to express the error here. But I do suppose a toddler will not understand something like relativity - regardless of being sucked into a black hole. :)

Clearly, you fail to realize that the standard pricing has always been 2 credits per card.



That's enough with insinuating that we're all idiots.

Final warning Huzbub.

Huzbub,

You don't loose anything that you have invested in cards and credits. You own them and are still yours to keep. Actually you own the right to use it but that's semantics. In fact you gain new software with new features and you are under no obligation to buy more credits. So where is the lose?

Your analogies are odd but If you consider VG an economy then you are very *****?

The investment is purely entertainment it has no other value. If it no longer entertains you then it has lost it's value but Totem can not be blamed for that as the product fundamentally remains the same .. the only difference is it could more if you wish to continue expanding your collection. If not enjoy the new software compliments of Totem.

I understand what Huzbub is saying. but his Logic is somewhat flawed.
Say For example a member bought 2 sets of 50 credits under the old pricing.
The Credits Cost him $100, which is exactly the same the credits Cost Now..

On the Demo tab, that member could buy cards for 1 credit each..
So his Credits or Money had a Value know to him as 1 credit is 1 Card..
So his view is that his 100 credits will buy 100 cards.

He has these credits in his account already..

And now the cost of the cards has changed, altering the Value he thought his credits were worth.

That's the VIEW he is trying to make..

The Flaw is this:
The Credits Still Cost the Same under the old system as they Do under the New System.

Cards had a Value of 2 Credits ( not 1 ) the price of 1 credit per card was a Discounted price.
Really the 100 credits only had a value of 50 cards.
Since cards had a value of 2 credits.

New Price of the Cards.

The Older 1080p cards are still 2.0 credits, same as had been previously.
The Older 720p cards are now 1.60 credits ( a Price drop ) so the Value of the existing Credits Has Increased for these cards.
Cards of the New collection will be 3.0 credits
and cards in the Classic Collection will be 1.0 credits

What has changed is the amount of Discount.

Further, based on the Members Level status, an additional discount is taken from the Cards Price.

So in affect, the Value of the Existing Credits has Gained buying power, not lost it..

I bought a mars bar yesterday
it was 5p more than the one I bought last week

Prices go up

It was still a Mars bar

@Wyldanimal now I understand how it works now.

Like I mentioned in my last post, my credits were used for Deskbabes and I paid a membership fee to get my virtuagirls. I'll deal with the no discounts or a slight percentage off because of status after my membership has expired.

You subscribed on 2014-03-29 (1 card(s)/day). Your subscription is active, next rebill is scheduled on 2015-03-27.

This is my membership status on the new software!

@Thunderstrike333
If you already have all "old" Virtuagirl cards you should cancel your "membership" today and ask customer service to get a refund in credits for the time you have left.

Cards from the new collection is not included in the "membership".

@Huzbub,

Wyldanimal and others bring up some valid points about why your reasoning is a bit flawed. However, everyone is ignoring one huge flaw in your reasoning. The biggest flaw with your viewpoint is that you are ignoring the one element of time. Anyone that knows anything about economics and the very nature of inflation knows that money does not have the same buying power over time. What you make today in income is worth less everyday in an economy of inflation. So if you make $100 today and decide to spend it immediately, it is worth its value. However if you save your money and chose to wait a year from now to buy the very same thing(s), it will cost your more to buy it because prices have gone up.

With a token or ticket system, if you decide to use them immediately, then the value you bought them for is preserved. However if you wait to use the tokens or tickets, then their value will probably be worth less and thus need more to buy the same thing. For example, if you buy some tokens for arcade games, a single game might require one token to play it once. But if you wait to use the token a year later, walking into the same arcade may require 2 tokens to play the same game once. So do you think that's fair?? Of course its fair because inflation caused the prices of the game playing to go up over time. Waiting to use money will almost always make the value of it be worth less over time due to inflation. Of course you can invest the money to collect interest or dividends to help keep up or change the value, but buying tokens or tickets in advance doesn't allow you to do this. They simply devalue over time.

@Huzbub There is no censorship here, this thread is the living proof of it. I saw your other thread, it has been rightfully moved from "Bugs & Fixes" to "Everything about VirtuaGirl" by mods. That's maybe why you though there was censorship.

@Rex,

Actually......I posted in the other thread, posted in this one a bit later and then moved both of them from Bugs & Fixes a few minutes later. I get the impression that the initial disagreement in the first thread may be what Huzbub incorrectly considers censorship.

With all the ***** and stuff I just thought he was looking for a fight with... anybody. ;)

Huzbub I understand what your saying

I called McDz and told them that I had 50 kids and I was buying them a burger off their 1 dollar menu ( yes I know they have a two dollar burger as well but im buying the one dollar burger )the price for this is 50 bucks and that I needed to pay a head of time, when I came in the next day to pick up my 50 burgers for my 50 kids they hand me bag of 40 burgers and told me that the price has changed ... ok im cool with that: the problem lays here ive already paid for my 50 burgers off the one dollar menu I didn't want the two dollar menu I paid for the one dollar menu, so can I get my 50 burgers or my 50 bucks back...I was told that I can buy off the two dollar menu and they would give me a discount of 30 percent so now my 50 burgers just cost me 70 bucks....what is wrong with this is ive already paid for my 50 burgers.

We all had plenty of warning about the price rise. Although your little story was fun, it does nothing to help. You can either accept the changes or say goodbye. Your choice, buddy :)

Franswau

It was said before, but you are completely wrong, same as the OP.

Under the past discount system, you could buy a card for one credit from the carousel. But that is not the price. The price was two credits per card. So 50 credits got you 25 cards, always. Cards never had the price of one credit, the price was 2 credits and then there was a discount.

What was decreased in the new system is the amount of the discount. In some cases, though, according to your level and other considerations, your discount is less than 50 percent or even more than 50 percent. The only real increase was in the cost of the credits, that was really moderated.

So the ***** is actually about the amount of the discount. Well, tough luck, the discount is not the same as before, even when in some cases is better now.

Not cause the 50 percent rebate using the carousel was there for a long time, meant that the promotion was forever or that was a lifetime deal.

Now, the claim is that some people had credits purchased before the changes. And that some people think that their existing credits lost value. No, you missed the previous amount of discount, cause, for whatever reason, you took the decision to hold on those credits and not using those when the special offer you liked was available. Today the offer is different, but still there is an offer over the regular price, so you're still getting more stuff for your money.

One of these days maybe Totem would like to stop all rebates for some time, then some will get what full price and special price mean.

Finally, your burgers example is not the case here and actually proves the opposite. The 1 dollar menu is 1 dollar full price, not 50 cents at a rebate. If the day the 1 dollar menu was at 50 cents, then you would get a 100 burgers for 50 bucks. But since you didn't take the chance to get a 100 burgers yesterday with the rebate, that is on you. Today the burgers are still 1 dollar full price, but there's a different discount.

In reality, you paid for certain amount of credits. You got those credits. The credits are not cards. You didn't come the next day to find Totem took away some of your existing credits. That would be the only scenario where your logic would work. But that was not the case, was it?

Plus you get bonus tickets each time you advance that's something the major part of us didn't have access to so that is an opportunity to get even more cards that we didn't.