You’re all talking to a brick wall when trying to say the games are illegal.

Illegal, no, not currently. Morality however is another matter

Totem did all the proper research to make sure everything is on the up & up.

LOL! I love IS and support Totem but they couldn't even figure out a proper model release! Not good when you are in the porn biz.

Totem does not research anything as far as I can tell. This is a cash grab the same as a video poker machine and feeds off the same mindset; winners happily tell you about their big win because they have already forgotten their countless losses.

Is it legal ? .. I don't know, I seriously doubt any member here knows, and I'm pretty sure Totem doesn't know and probably wont care until lawyers or other authorities are involved. Laws vary by countries and community it may be legal in some and illegal in others. Laws are general in place to protect the weak but honestly I'm not sure those protections are needed here. I know that in the gaming biz 'loot boxes' are under pressure but on IS this seems more like the 'pay to win' games.

BTW I'm referring to the gambling (scratch/ lottery, slots, etc); I have no clue what the Joker thing is but assume its related to the gambling. And while I do play video games I don't play the "pay to win" games nor do I bother with loot boxes much.

but they couldn't even figure out a proper model release!

Totem does not research anything as far as I can tell.

Is it legal ? .. I don't know, I seriously doubt any member here knows, and I'm pretty sure Totem doesn't know and probably wont care until lawyers or other authorities are involved.

Seriously??? ALL of your above statements are total speculation based on NOTHING!!! Scare-mongering yet again.
I feel so sad when I read statements like these here.

Get your FREAKING FACTS straight first. ALL of you! GGGRRRRR!!!

See, im sure no one cares, im just one member, and my loss to totem will be exactly nothing really, im just one person. Bit i hionestly feel i should just uinstall thios software again, and forget about it. I did exactly that over a period of 2 years. when i started too experince quality of life degredation due toi my obsessive behavour, got too spend more and more too have them medels, all of them. You have to either have an addiction, or know someone whos facing an addiction to understand, to get it, too others im just a stupoid idiot who has no common sence.. But addictive behavour dont work that way. One very inconsiderate and rude member decided to call me these things, while im not a vendictive person i still dotn feel that right, kicking someone when they are down out of pure ignorance.

After a break, gaining perspective and help from Gambling support groups, and a handle on my problem, i came back, with money, lots of it, i was willing, and comfortable to spend catching up on collection, after which i quite successfuly maintained a subcription of sorts, an allowance of 30usd every two weeks, too pay for any upcoming cards. That means nothign to anyone im sure, but too me it was a triumph over my very real problems. Then totem months and months later started with the slot machines, that was a test, fine i wont ven look at any of the "shopping" or "news" tabs over the weekend. I am fine with that, honesly dodnt even open the client very often, but now these gamblking tabs are there ALL the time, they dont go away. And the only way to get this new card is by gambling. as i said, i should just unistall the software, that i enjoy very much, and have doen so very good at controlling my urges.. buit now i feel i am in danger again

I am, sure people with think im just a stupid idiot with no commonsence. but thats just not how addictiove personality disorders work. Its really not. and i thank everyone who does not make value judgments, or personal attcks against me over this.

I wont even bring this up again. last i will say

@dar
You’ve been doing a lot of coming behind others with zero facts just to throw turds at Totem for a while now. It has been noted. Not by me alone either.

For whatever it is worth, I've been a customer from your beginning. I do NOT like not being able to purchase the cards, and I do not approve of the gambling requirement. Respectfully, you need to reconsider how you're making these bonus cards available for good, long-term customers, who are not impressed with your approach.

1. I feel really bad for collectors. This promotion does provide a chance at credits but trading credits for credits with a guarentee to lose credits and still not getting the special edition card is a bad move for totem.

2. I do not feel bad for anybody else who played the game. You went in willingly with the goal of getting something for nothing, getting credits or free cards or a free special edition card, and you lost or won. That is gambling.

@celine

Here is a solution:

The next promotion should work "kind of" like ebay. Have a "buy it now price" of 100 credits that starts on day 1 of the promotion. Also provide a scratch card game that gives a percent chance of winning the card. Every time a person wins the special event card in the scratch game the "buy it now" price increases by 1%. This means that collectors need to make a quick decision to buy at a "low" price :), but the gamblers can still scratch to win free credits or the special event card. This will also give a rough estimate of how easy it is to win the special event card for the astute which might drive more people to gamble. Then on the final day all people who received the special event card will be put into a lottery to win the final price of the buy it now card in credits. So if the buy it now price is 1000 credits all partakers will have a chance to make that back. But just one. THe current game is really disrespectful to full collection buyers and a little ***** of gamblers. It certainly makes totem appear less savory in the moral category. Something that is surprisengly important when it comes to buying porn. Many people feel vulnerable when paying for porn. What do I do if the product doesn't work? What do I do if they take my money? Totem has been one of the most upstanding companies I have ever done business with...this particular promotion doesn't support that opinion.

@orclover

This sounds like a fair and equitable method to obtain promotional cards, special rare copntent that also increases the profit and percieved value of these cards

Ideas like this are a good thing.

2. I do not feel bad for anybody else who played the game. You went in willingly with the goal of getting something for nothing, getting credits or free cards or a free special edition card, and you lost or won. That is gambling.

But thats untrue, when gambling was the only method to get it. and :somethign for nothing:, even if you get your card you wanted, first try, its still 10 credits.

You’ve been doing a lot of coming behind others with zero facts just to throw turds at Totem for a while now. It has been noted. Not by me alone either.

@hab
Did you tell my mother I'm buying porn? Should I be afraid of something else? Or someone else? Who has noted my unwelcomed behavior?

As far a zero facts I suspect we have the same number of facts which is more than zero but far less then all of facts but I am wondering what fact or facts you think I got wrong?

Throwing 'turds' was certianly NOT my intention. No, just stating facts and my opions; if you dissagree with anything I've said feel free to correct me but the facts are facts and my opions are my right to have. You are under no obligation to agree but it doesn't change the facts nor my opinions.

If it is against the rules to state the facts or have an opinion that disagrees with yours then jusy say so and I'll try and choose my words more carefully. In any case, I'm not looking to get into it with anyone whether be you or whomever the mysterious watcher might be? Lets just say we agreee to disagree but underhanded threats are unwelcome and poor practice.

Na, althou it use ta...could be again

...

I am against slot machines, scratch games, exclusive cards and such promos too.
But we can not say that Totem does money gamble.

1 - If I go to casino, change some money into casino chips, I play games and then I convert winnings back in money, it's money gamble.
2 - If with my money I buy a bunch of marbles, I play with friends and create a marble gamble game in which participating people can win more of them, I can not go to shop then and get money back in exchange of my recently won marbles, neither of ones I bought at first. Marbles were bought for real money, but a gamble game then done with those marbles is NOT, and never could be, a money gamble.

Istripper gamble games are comparable to case n. 2. You play with Istripper credits, which are not money, and can never be converted in money after being bought, or being won. So, on Istripper it's not money gamble.

Well, that's not the best comparison I've ever seen. Poker chips have a face value and are considered a type of currency while marbles are only good for glass recycling.

N.1 is a licensed gaming establishment. You play legal gambling games on premises so you are covered by gambling, gaming and trading standards law, possibly along with a host of other small legal constituencies. Totem has a whole load of these in their T&C's as they are a trading company.

N.2 you are still covered by trading standards when you buy your marbles, the moment you open them and start throwing them around you are no longer covered. The receipt is a legal bill of sale. So long as you are just playing with friends in a private establishment you are not breaking any laws. When you try to start inviting half the world to play online for money, you might be in legal hot water.

If you start loosing your marbles you still cannot claim they were all faulty and return them... :)

Totem doesn't invite half the world to play online to win any money.
I am precisely saying that Totem's gambling games are like N.2, not N.1. It's not playing online for money. Credits - with which you play such games here - are not money, and they are more comparable to marbles than to poker chips, since when you have credits you may NOT change them into money.
Only money transaction between Istripper members and Totem is when one of us buys credits. On Istripper, cards acquisition, slot machine, scratch cards etc. are not money transactions.

So you're trying to claim that Totem is more like a corner shop selling marbles than a software company selling surprise mechanics? ;)

I am just trying to explain that there is not any money gamble here. Since credits are not money.

From the Totem T&C's;

Iv. Ownership...

... If you have a valid, active Account, you may purchase Credits, which is a credit system that operates like virtual currency ("Credits") used to license Product Content that can be downloaded and watched while using the Product. Credits can be purchased online through the in-Product "Reload Your Account" section.

The important words here are "virtual currency". :)

Credits, which is a credit system that operates like virtual currency

It operates LIKE virtual currency. In any case, important word is "virtual". Which means "not real-life"...
Moreover, as you can see on T&C, using money you purchase credits but using credits you just get licensed to play the content, you don't buy nor own it

Can I move for a nice, long adjournment your honor? ;)

From the terms and conditions that we all agreed to (sorry for the capital letters, that is how this sentence appears is in the T&C's so Totem seem to want to particularly emphasise it though I have added the bold highlightiing)

YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THE CREDIT SYSTEM HAVE NO MONETARY VALUE AND CANNOT BE REDEEMED FOR CASH. NO REFUNDS WILL BE MADE FOR THE PURCHASE OF CREDITS.

I've been avoiding joining this discussion, but here I go.

1. Various governments regulate something they call gambling. They each define it as they please. Some of the TGIF games may be considered gambling by some governments. I suspect it is not gambling to most governments.

2. People pay games of chance which are games where the outcome is to some extent dependent of random events. To me most of the TGIF games are games of chance. Chess is not a game of chance. Roulette is a "pure" game of chance where the outcome is entirely determined by random events. Poker is a game of chance, but the long-term outcome is determined more by skill than by chance.

3. People who create games of chance build in some probability of wining. While there may not be a legal obligation to do so, revealing that probability is ethical behavior.

4. I think Totem should provide enough information about its games so that customers can determine the probability of winning.

I've studied probability and statistics at graduate school and I've created stochastic simulations with are essentially games of chance with an educational rather than a profit motive.

That is about refunds...
Yes. In the same way that poker chips have no monetary value outside their casino and bank notes have no monetary value outside their country of origin. Inside of iStripper though, they have an equivalent value... and are used as virtual currency.

This is an argument you should be having with Totem. It's their T&C's only they can say if their currency system is worth the money you pay or not!

Any more hammers looking to weigh in? ;)

Technically, (on an off topic note) British bank notes are not an actual currency.

There is a line printed on them that says "I will pay the bearer the sum of..." what you are holding is a credit line, a promise, from the bank. :)

In South American countries you can find piles of them in the garbage. They are not worth the paper they are printed on!

@shodan084 - "I will pay the bearer the sum of..." is an explicit statement that the bank note does have a monetarty value. Totem's T&C's explicitly state that credits do not.

In the same way that poker chips have no monetary value outside their casino and bank notes have no monetary value outside their country of origin

whereas you are technicaly correct, I disagree with your analogies.
Poker chips can be traded back to the casino for real world cash that can be used outside of the casino
Similarly bank notes can be exchanged for other currencies that can be used in another country

Credits are virtual. once you own them they can only be traded within this domain. They have no real world value, you cannot even sell them to another member. Ergo, you are wrong.

There is no argument to be had with Totem

Credits are virtual. once you own them they can only be traded within this domain. They have no real world value, you cannot even sell them to another member. Ergo, you are wrong.

Not sure where this slipped in from. Nobody is talking about exchanges except you.
When you buy credits they have a value, they are of value to Totem. 25 credits nets Totem real world money. ;)

When you buy credits they have a value, they are of value to Totem.

That is not correct - they have no value to Totem, Credits do not exist until you buy them and Totem gain nothing when you use them (other than that by using them you increase the probability that you will buy more later)

Credits do not exist until you buy them and Totem gain nothing when you use them.

...ah. So that is the reason Totem keep a detailed credit history then...

Credits are of value to us, the customers, they are of zero value to Totem.

@TheEmu you should have been an owl .. wise words