A webcam service is a website where special performers basically provide porn entertainment in real life. They can take up various forms: from streams to videos or live chat.
But the fact remains: they’ve been growing in popularity of late. Something about knowing that whatever happens is happening in real time somewhere while you’re watching makes people more excited and engaged, probably. In essence, it’s the same as the usual old adult videos, with several key exceptions.
However, they also may be dangerous and borderline scamming. That’s why you need to be careful and well informed before trying to pick a webcam service on your own. So, let’s see what you can do about it.
What are webcam services?
A ‘webcam service’ is a broad umbrella term. There may be different types with different properties, but here are the usual standards of what a webcam service is supposed to be:
- It is a website where the interaction between you and the performer is made through a webcam (i.e., the ‘entertainer’ is visible in full);
- It is supposed to be an adult service, so chat roulettes such as Omegle are not webcam services;
- The interaction is provided in the video format
These are the three main staples, but there can be other aspects, and even these can vary in their execution. Everything can differ, really – but think of it as a porn site in real life. That would be a rough, but a quite accurate description.
What’s unique?
In additional to the structural differences, the adult web cams also brought something new to the table, something that wasn’t really known before in the same form. Namely:
- Live subscriptions
and
- Scamming
Paid subscriptions have been used on porn sites before (PornHub Premium, for instance), but entirely in the same way. You wouldn’t get more content from the same authors and performers directly, you would usually be given more features and content in general (for instance, content marked for Premium).
However, on many webcam services, you can pay up regular live subscriptions for more content from specific performers – in the form of exclusive videos, streams or photos. This hasn’t been done in the same way before, and it does change how the adult entertainment industry works.
Secondly, scamming was obviously an issue before, but not from the authors of porn video. On escort services, scamming is a pretty common issue – the hapless users often pay the providers without receiving anything in return. However, on the websites that provide video-based entertainment, the websites were only ever scamming users.
Now, scamming can feasibly be done by the performers. It may not even by an outright cheating or deceit – instead, users can simply be blackmailed, pressured into paying up and manipulated. It’s still scamming, and it was never really seen in this way in this professional field.
That’s why you need to be careful for new reasons on these sex web cam services.
How do they work?
The pure webcam services are a new concept, and there is no strict widely-accepted structure that all of them follow, like it turned out with the dating apps and escort services. Still, most have been around for several years now, and even before there were webcam sections inside the big hookup websites.
So, here’s what your average experience would amount to.
Average user experience
Entering one of these websites, you are generally given a catalogue of performers as well as a menu that allows you to sort by several parameters. Depending on what website we’re talking about, there can be even theme or interest tags, but there will generally be just two things:
- Gender of the performer
- Provided service
Like on many dating or escort websites, you’d be able to sort the performers by these and other parameters to find someone who fits your preferences. Some are more of a streaming service like Twitch in this sense. You’d basically pick your favorite type of entertainment, sit back and watch.
And certainly, there can be various types of entertainment based on what the performer likes to do. There’s no limit on creativity, and some websites (such as OnlyFans, for instance) even have non-adult sections, such as cooking or work-out. If you like how the website itself works, then you can watch something else.
But the bottom-line is this: you can always find something new and completely unique, and tags and categories can’t always accurately describe the stuff happening on-screen.
Usual types of entertainment
Of course, there are usual types of entertainment that people just massively prefer. No need to reinvent the wheel without need, after all.
Hence, the usual types of performance include this:
- Sex chat or just intimate chat
- Live broadcasts with some mature content
- Active porn in process (more scarce, because it’s weird)
Many of these services are live, as you can see, and, therefore, have various components that stream services usually have – such as chat, view count or subscriptions. The third one is a particularly interesting subject, as you remember, but we’ll get to it a bit later.
A popular form of pastime on these websites is visiting the broadcast you like and speaking to the host. It can be either an active interaction (such as on Omegle) one-on-one or a stream where you’re just a part of a viewing community. Regardless, you can talk to the person on the other side and make requests.
That’s what’s fascinating about this all (for some people). But they obviously don’t do it for fun (most people don’t). Many of these services have either a partnership program between the website and entertainers or a subscription program. Let’s talk about either of them separately.
Partnership
Some websites don’t have subscriptions or have them on a much smaller scale. That’s a better choice if you don’t feel like paying up for what’s essentially live porn. You can watch the same thing without having to subscribe for all the interesting stuff.
Some of these subscription-free websites simply won’t fit because they are chatting roulettes with mature content where both parties can basically do whatever they want, but some will just show you ads and give some of the revenue to the entertainers for their trouble.
On such websites, you often don’t even need to sign up to see content. It is neat, but (depending on the service) the user base on such websites can be lower-tier. If the entertainers aren’t paid properly, they really won’t stay here for long, and only people who work for their own leisure will stay.
Sure, many of these websites have donation systems where you can donate money to people to let them continue this line of work. But this often doesn’t work out. There is another type of webcam website where you often have to subscribe to see the interesting content.
Subscription
Basically, subscription on these websites can be one of two forms:
- You pay up to see specific content chosen by the author
or
- You pay the website for showing you the content
The second one is scarcer, in that it doesn’t attract as many willing spenders as the first concept. The first one, by contrast, has been massively gaining in popularity after OnlyFans has grown viral.
This website, in fact, is the ideal example of a subscription-driven webcam service. Although you can visit the place, pick any entertainer at all, watch their broadcasts and videos and be happy as a result, you can become much happier there if you pay for a subscription.
Most of the subscription fees will be given to the performer (minus some host fees deduced by the platform). They’ll get their pay, and you’ll get access to their specific catalogue of content in the form of exclusive photos, videos and access to special broadcasts.
The sort of content specifically to give to the subbed users depends solely on an entertainer. But it usually is released on a regular basis and includes very explicit or specialized (fetishised, that is) materials, while the usual users could be given something less exciting.
Best webcam sites
After all this talk about advantages, disadvantages and features of various types of adult web cams, you might be wondering what websites you even choose to start going through such type of content.
We’ve arranged a list of three decent services of various types that will be a good start. But in broader terms, you really need to be sure the website is well-designed, safe, secure and a host to a good number of real entertainers (some less-than-decent websites simply put streams from other services without sanction).
These websites all fit the description.
#1 – Chaturbate
Chaturbate is extremely popular, and in fact, one of the few worthwhile chatting services for adults. By design, it’s very much like Omegle – you basically get connected to a random person on the platform and spend some time chatting with them. On Chaturbate, of course, the content would be much more mature.
This service is very convenient for one-on-one chats, and, besides doing mature stuff in front of one another, you can also discuss and do other things that don’t usually get allowed on Omegle and other chat services.
It’s a basic design, and you pretty much don’t do anything else here besides talk to strangers and be perverted together. Still, an amazing service.
#2 – OnlyFans
Well, this one is iconic. In fact, most of the sex chat services and, particularly, adult broadcast platform are heavily inspired by this site. It is much like Twitch – in that you get to browse through the website’s categories, find individual streamers and users and see what content they have.
It can range from absolutely explicit to innocent, and OnlyFans moderators don’t dictate what you should or should not do, with the exception of extreme stuff. It is, in general, a soft service where extreme fetishes, political and other unsavory discussions are looked down upon.
It is very handy for the reasons we discussed prior.
#3 – Camsoda
Camsoda is a much less popular alternative to OnlyFans, although not entirely. It’s also a broadcasting service, but most users are just here for their leisure or donations. It’s not as business-oriented as OnlyFans, although it’s still a viable alternative.
In comparison to OnlyFans, Camsoda is a much softer option by nature. There is also no hardcore content, but you’ll be met with explicit materials right away. Most people are streaming and you can see what they are doing right on the front page. And if you look for more than a few seconds, you’ll see that it’s very-very mature.
Picking your type
We’ve mentioned a lot of aspects that make these websites what they are. Picking the exact type and exact site is entirely up to your preferences and, well, desires. Because content can vary on the platforms themselves, you need to do your research yourself. What websites we listed are a good place to start precisely because they are safe.
You won’t get scammed or cheated in the usual way here. However, it is likely people will try to lure the personal information out of you – especially on Chaturbate. But it’s not a common issue.
In general, webcam websites are great if what you crave is direct interaction with the free-people on the Internet in a leisurely environment of your choice. Often these entertainers do what you ask of them – sometimes because they can do it without consequences, and sometimes because you pay them.
It really depends on what your preferences and mindset are. If you don’t like extreme stuff, and rather want to interact with streamers in a soft atmosphere, you are very welcome to go to OnlyFans. You don’t absolutely have to pay them to enjoy the content, but if you do, these people will appreciate it very much.