The Camgirl's Assistant

Chapter 5 - Food For Thought

Richard Dalton's computer made a beep when he received an email message from his college friend John Sullivan, the person who first told him about the WorldsGreatCams website. The email said John would be driving from Portland to the Seattle area for a couple of days and asked if he would like to meet for dinner on Thursday night. Richard replied that the timing was fine, and it was not long before the two were at an East Coast-style Italian restaurant called Vito's. The restaurant had been in business for decades, and it was rumored that at one time Seattle's mobsters used to gather there. The food was fantastic, and thanks to touches like mid-century decor, a grand piano, and vinyl booths, it still seemed like a place where shady deals might slide under the table. John arrived a little late and smirked when he spotted Richard in a booth at the rear of the restaurant.

        "Well, John... looks like you're doing well," said Richard.

        "And you, too."

        John was one of those people who seemed to age slower than the rest; perhaps it was his easygoing lifestyle. He never let anything bother him, and he was always diplomatic with everyone he met. It's possible that John never made one enemy in his life. In a short while, they ordered specials from the chalkboard and put their menus aside.

        "Okay," said Richard, "let's skip the introductory chitchat and get to the elephant in the room." The two snickered because they both knew what the inevitable topic of conversation would be.

        In a facetious tone of surprise John quipped: "Oh? So I see that you have followed up on my email, and that you have watched WorldsGreatCams after all."

        "It's quite a scene, huh. And there's a much bigger story here than just the invention of a new form of entertainment. I did some reading in the Wikipedia camgirl article. Camming has become a two-billion-dollar a year industry, and in less than a decade it's taken over half the porn business. That's quite a feat for a group of independent adolescent girls, armed only with laptop computers and inexpensive video cameras."

        John stopped eating an appetizer and leaned forward. "But the label of porn isn't really very descriptive when we talk about WorldsGreatCams and its camgirls, is it? There's much more going on than just nudity and fondling. Have you noticed the way many camgirls structure their shows so that displays of nudity are also accompanied by periods of conversation via the chat-window? At times it looks more like a form of video journalism than a striptease act."

        "Exactly. Many of the WGC camgirls have powerful verbal skills. They can quickly read the flow of viewer comments in the chat-window and select what topics are best for elaboration. Because the pace of chat can occasionally be rapid, it sometimes seems like they're in a verbal ping pong match with their viewers."

        John laughed. "Yeah, verbal ping pong... that's just about it! Many have revealed that as teenagers, and before they came to camming, they had participated in Internet forums for years. And some even had their own personal blogs that attracted hundreds of followers. In a way, many camgirls were Internet journalists long before they bought their first video camera."

        "And some can blend comedy into their cam shows, like that MerryLee character. She knows how to do improvisational comedy, and has attracted hundreds of loyal fans who'll show up in her chatroom every chance they get. She's also a talented singer and adept at dance. Another reason why I respect MerryLee is, that despite all her traditional skills, she never shows any snobbery toward the other camgirls or the profession."

        John smiled, looked down, and slowly shook his head. "That MerryLee is the reason my wife has also become a fan of WorldsGreatCams. Sometimes we'll skip HBO just so we can watch MerryLee do her thing." John's second wife had always been very open-minded when it came to art or sex. She never had a jealous bone in her body, and it didn't surprise Richard one bit that she might enjoy the more versatile camgirls like MerryLee.