@TheEmu,

What I did say was that you do not have to gamble to get the Special Event card (which is what had been claimed in the post I was replying to)

Not sure how you figure this, but the fact is that you have to gamble 50 times to get it. To say that you do not have to gamble is to put a 500 credit price tag on it. Is that what you are saying?

Yes - that is what I said - twice. No need to gamble if do not want to, but expensive if you do it that way. Now I have said it thrice.

P.S. for a couple of the earlier SECs there have been posts by people claiming that they would willingly pay at least two hundred credits to buy one (though I am not entirely sure that they really would have done so)

@orclover

Yeh, I used the slot machine events to build my collection, as it was working out at ~20% off, when it became less advantagious for me to buy my cards that way i stopped using it. That isn't the problem.

For some people the keeping their collection at 100% could be classed as mental illness (hording behaviour) as such the SEC's attached to gambling games could be taken as totem taking advantage of mentaly ill people, I don't think that is their intention but it is obviously wrong and shouldn't be happening regardless of intent.

I would judge someone spending 500 credits to get 1 card when they normally cost <14 as cause for concern.

I have only been a member for just over 2 years but in that time i have seen a pattern emerging... One of two things seem to be happening, either totem are fine finacially and it's just a case of greed at the top, or repeated missteps have driven customers away and they are having to resort to worse tactics to keep afloat.

I hope it's neither of those and they just think these games are a bit of fun and don't realise what they are doing to some people. I ***** that if they carry on down this path istripper is eventually going to go down the toilet and none of us want that.

I am always suprised, what are many people willing to do to get something which is not so easy to get. For me it is very simple: I just ignore the special cards completely and I am happy. I don't see anything special about them either, except they are sometimes hard to get (or expensive to get).

But I think the special cards work very well as an incentive for collectors, who have almost everything here, to spend more money.

As for the gambling part - obviously there are a lot of people who like it, because else it would not be profitable for them to use it so often. Sad for me, because I don't like to gamble, but I can live with that, waiting for better offers for me, like cashback.

But most importantly: I am happy to see people are interested in the product and are willing to participate even in the gambling parts, because I don't want this great product to end.

One of two things seem to be happening, either totem are fine finacially and it's just a case of greed at the top, or repeated missteps have driven customers away and they are having to resort to worse tactics to keep afloat.

It's part of a process of continuous innovation, which has been in Totem's business model since they stabilised the 3k product after their financial crisis a few years ago. We've seen iDancer, that VR thing on Stream and the VR vids. If they were coining it with the existing product, they'd increase the production rate. If they were really struggling, they'd decrease production rate and change the base model.

They're making enough to innovate and hope that something pays off, preferably big-time. So far, the VR vids seem to be working and the games are also paying off, so they are continuing to invest in them.

The games are there, I suspect, to reduce the attrition amongst new users, who, on average, lose interest after a few months. They only represent half the revenue, but the marketing cost of winning new users all the time must *****. As an established customer, I can ignore the games, but enjoy secure access to the product I enjoy, so good luck to them.

One of two things seem to be happening, either totem are fine finacially and it's just a case of greed at the top, or ...

Replace "greed" by its near synonym in the commercial world of "seeking to increase profit" and I would then agree. Why is anybody surprised or dismayed at this,

I'm just going to roast some marshmellows on the flames of this thread lol. That's all its good for nothing will come of this. good bad or indifferent.

One of two things seem to be happening, either totem are fine finacially and it's just a case of greed at the top, or ...
Replace "greed" by its near synonym in the commercial world of "seeking to increase profit" and I would then agree. Why is anybody surprised or dismayed at this,

Because sooner or later it could backfire as has happened in the computer gaming industry. While the likes of EA or activision can take a huge loss can totem?

The worst that can happen is that Totem goes bust, and we're stuck with collections that can't be played.

The worst that can happen is that Totem goes bust, and we're stuck with collections that can't be played.

It has been said in the past that if that did happen we would be provided with a version that could play our collections.

Your collection can be played all the time with the latest version of the software, even if there is no connection to internet.

For me this started with the change to how the preview tab worked, that changed my behaviour. I use to login and leave the program running and check the preview tab every hour, sometimes there would be 3 girls i would buy and sometime none. Now I login, check what the new girl is and maybe add her to my wishlist and logout (unless i'm on the forum or messing with shaders), the preview tab is all but useless now. This means i am not spending my credits and so I am not reloading.

In my first year i spent about 3000 (wouldn't be surprised if its more than that), my second year was no where near that. Now near the begining of my 3rd year i'm not sure i have speny any credits, and with what i have said elsewhere with the 4k paywall I won't be reloading again unless they open it up to everyone. If they don't want my custom then thats up to them, theres plenty of free porn on the internet. We don't need istripper, they need us.

Thanks Totem, enjoy playing the games, my collection is complete now with
The Jia Lissa card plus I have a joker as a plus.😍

i like everything @Z22 said, im an example of all that personified (in his responce to orclover2)

@Z22

Why do you now find the preview tab now useless ? What do you have the "Free Preview Push" push control set to ?

@Z22

Why do you now find the preview tab now useless ? What do you have the "Free Preview Push" push control set to ?

I have it set to 10 min push as i had from the start.

The problem is that now rather then the price reductions lasting 1 hour they now last 15 mins, whereas before you used to be able to check the preview tab once an hour and there were up to 3 girls on offer, this made it worthwhile leaving the app running. Now unless you check every 15 mins you can miss them (f-that for a game). This had lead me to very rarely buy anything from the preview tab as it's just too much hassle, there are other problems with it like the endless stream of girls i would never buy, but that a seperate issue that has been there much longer and is related to the ratings system.

Now because i'm not buying the girls on my wishlist at 15% (old reduction) i wait till the 4th card free TGIF which works out at 25% off, this is a 10% loss for totem. Now that isn't much of a big deal if i'm the only one doing that, but am I the only one?

@Z22 - As I don't use the previews I have not noticed the change that you speak of. But it seems to me that despite that change you should be seeing the same number of discounted cards as you did before no matter how often or how infrequently you check - you may have a shorter period in which to get the discount on any particular card but should be seeing other discounted cards instead - or does it not work that way.