How would you valuate a sex tape? Asking out of mere curiosity :^)

Oh you meant for potential blackmail?

Yeah, got it after a minute.

Well, social standing, marital status are definitely up there.

Job / job prospect … well, that's a tricky one. I mean, in theory, she could get bonus points for various reasons, or she could have a problem getting a job. That depends on what kind of job and what kind of company.

And don't forget about prosecution possibilities for the poster. Since Fappening, this is quite frowned upon.

I think it would be tough for someone to find employment in a high visibility field, or one that involves reputation (particularly online reputation). In today's economy something like that would be a silver bullet to someone's career.

Well yes, but Revenge Porn laws are very, very narrowly written you'll find. If you know what you're doing exposure is pretty minimal.

Fetishes aren't generally that much of an issue, as long as she doesn't do something illegal. I mean, they are more and more common, so unless she sleeps with someone underage or does bestiality, not much you can get from that.

Sure, some people might be surprised, many people would download and fap to it, but that's about it.

In theory, yes, but as said, victim points are currently a very hard currency. With her face? I don't think that whatever she does in the vid would hurt her that much in the long run. In the worst case scenario, she'd have to wait for a year or two to let things calm down.

Suppose it's something along one of those lines. Would that be icing on a cake, or would we be talking about tacking a zero or two onto an amount.

So you think that unless it was outright catastrophic the value would be capped at some amount?

… you kinda talk more like a jealous female, than a ditched bf. Interesting.

Would a jealous female pay to own such a tape of a rival, either romantically or financially?

As said, fetishes aren't much of a problem. If she had sex with an underage, then she'd go to trial and most probably get probation or a very light sentence. That kills some job opportunities.

So yes, unless it was outright breaking the law, it might be very humiliating, but it would blow over fairly soon, especially if she starts riding the victim wave.

Again: With that face? Very likely. Might be even more profitable, than trying the victim. Or, you could have an auction >.> might be fairly lucrative.

I think you're underestimating some of the impact of this. Daily harassment on social media. Trying to get hired by new employers means that they google you and find whatever it is. Wanna start a business? Your business is linked to your reputation, which is linked to your, ah, film participation.

The overall cost imposed is potentially quite high. Particularly if the vid is co-starring Rex, Tyrone, or whoever.

Interested parties would have to be lined up and given a venue for the auction. I think perhaps an onion auction site would be best. Thoughts?

I wouldn't know about that, I haven't been using social networks for a long time now. And even when I was, my posts were strictly neutral.
And I took care to never publish a picture of myself on any social network, therefore I can deny being an owner of an account, which looks like it might be mine based on other information.

Tor isn't as safe nowadays. Depending on what node you go in through, though.

I'd probably use some anonymous encrypted messaging service.

Well, I suppose there are plenty of ways to do it. Encrypted email chains behind 7000 skeletons, bitcoin escrow services etc. I think the hardest part would be lining up enough serious bidders to make such a thing worth doing really.

That would probably be best I suppose. Safest recommendations, or is that some spelunking I should do on my own?

Not really, the victim, her family members, potential jealous female opponents…

But: The more people you involve, the higher risk of getting caught.

On the other hand, why would you even want to do this? Monetary gain or vengeance?

I do have some recommendations, but frankly, I like my encrypted services not well known, because then they don't get law-b&, so I'm definitely not posting them here.

I think of it like this:

-Bidder A: The movie star
-Bidder B: A jealous female
-Bidder C: That guy from work who wants some quality time "working late" with our movie star three times a week
-Bidder D: Someone with a financial angle related to her occupation
-Bidder E: Someone with a direct financial angle hoping to outbid our movie star

This is all hypothetical. I'm a writer and this is all for a book you know.

S'cool, I'll go and find a set up that would work.

Ah, ok. I like mental exercises like that, better think fast, before I get drunk.

So basically, everybody but the movie star would want to make the purchase for further blackmail. Yes, this is acceptable.

As said, one more potential additional Bidder would be a family member, parent, most probably. A spouse would most probably be of help as well, even if it meant a divorce afterwards, because he's also saving his face.

But including a spouse would be tricky. If the other buyers knew that the spouse was aware of the tape then the tape would go down in value. Dangerous game to burn your buyers like that.

Naturally, the key point in making the parent, the movie star and the spouse bid as well is to make sure, that the don't know that the other two are participating.

If none of them know about the others and you're offloading it anyway then this is ideal. Might hurt your odds of repeat business if one of the other bidders wins and discovers that knowledge, at least, of the tape has leaked.

As said, the spouse's interest is saving face. Also, if he is truly in love, he'd be hurt, but, unless mentally unstable, he'd stand with his wife… as long as the tape wasn't about her cheating on him >.>

Well to find that out he'd have to buy the tape wouldn't he? It could be from before they even met, or she might proudly show off her wedding ring in the opening scene.

Well, doing black business usually means, you keep your word. People, who are moving outside the law follow a different set of laws and those are usually far stricter, albeit, there are less of them.

Keeping one's word is fairly important, unless you can neutralize your opponent before they retaliate for you not upholding a bargain.

Right. Hence why, if a serious outside bidder is interested, it might be best to avoid bringing spouses and family in. Devalues merchandise that they couldn't afford to pay for anyway.

That depends on the storyline and the Movie star character.

But he could be sent a sample. And be told, that there's more and unless he pays, it would be published. Also to not tell anyone. Most men would prefer to pay, than to have the whole family fall to disgrace.

Again, this strongly depends on the characters and the background story. If they have the money, it would be a good move. If they don't have the money, it's best avoided.

Not to forget - pressure cooker: The movie star / all characters on her side would have to get an ultimatum: Pay before a deadline or the tape goes public.

Also: First auction with the Movie star and her friends - first batch of money

Second auction: rivals and potential abusers. - second batch of money

I suspect that the storyline and character would be carefully chosen for a very juicy Movie. A blockbuster hit but with the fine touch of a Woody Allen film. Depends on the film I guess though.

I suppose it's a question of if they have the juice.

It'd either be a solo buy from the Movie star unless her friends or parents were very trustworthy and not the source of the video's financial value.

The second auction would have to take into consideration the first auction's participants and whether the film was good. Maybe graded A+ to C- in terms of potency remaining if one wants repeat buyers.

As said, the most profitable scheme would be first milking the star and the close trustworthy friends/family of her and then going to the opposition. Possible Repeat buyers are only the movie star and maybe the spouse.

I mean repeat with multiple movie stars. I suspect a few rich hobbyists might want to start collecting for reasons financial or personal.

Ah, certainly. As said, look back to fappening, although AFAIK, there was no blackmail involved.

Of course. No blackmail ever reported.

There most probably was no blackmail going on. It was a high-profile case, given the company involved. Therefore, if someone was blackmailed, it was Apple, not the content-creators.

Right. The serious money is probably going to be corporate.

Well, corporations generally make more money, than most private people. They also have more value in saving their face, since if they are disgraced like this, people lose faith in their products, therefore buying competition.

Let's say you're an exec or a guy in charge of opposition research. Someone informs you of an auction. The item? The leading product development manager of your main competitor's firm with access to, well, everything you'd want to know about what they're releasing for the next four fiscal quarters, which co-stars Rex as the romantic lead. Her husband not appearing in this feature.

I'd say we'd get out of the orbit of small money pretty quickly, wouldn't we?

In theory. As said, this strongly depends on whether the Movie star is replaceable as the lead. If yes, then not so much. If for some reason she's not replaceable, then sure. You hit jackpot.

Well, there's always that first small payday from our film star. Then there's the guy two cubicles over, her husband's crazy ex girlfriend, and that guy who hates her guts from accounting etc etc.

Naturally. We could simply get back to the beginning and state, that it depends on the potential impact of the tape, how important social standing the movie star has and basically how well established her career is and how important she is for an upcoming blockbuster.

If the film is semi-finished and great revenue is expected and replacing the actress is not in question at the moment and the payoff wouldn't invalidate profit gained from the movie, it is fiscally acceptable.

Right. So it all comes down to whether one is hunting small game or big game.

Then it's just a matter of lining up buyers very carefully.

And hiding well your traces >.>

The antagonist should be someone, whom none of the parties know in person, preferably. Just doing a job. Just doing it for money.

ok, I'm pouring my second mug of vodka. Won't probably be of much use in a little while.

The idea is untraceability. It doesn't due to mix business with pleasure.

All contributions are useful for spitballing purposes.

Antagonist character:
cold person
calculating
doesn't get emotionally invested
most probably had nasty things happen in his/her life -> numbed by bad experience [ contrary to what most people believe, you have 3 outcomes when you have had a shitty life:
1) you break
2) you become an extreme do-gooder
3) you become very cold, calculating and somebody, who constantly looks out for #1
]
smart, well educated in various fields
…

I'm full of drama, when drunk. I do not recommend it ^_^;

I'd imagine that they have a variety of technical know how. For background they may as well be a ghost. Someone who gets their hooks in and looks for a payout anywhere it's safe to do so.

S'cool. This is going to be thriller/drama.

One more addition: The antagonist is very good at hiding his personality. Basically like most sociopaths and psychopaths. Therefore the preferred projected outwards personality is someone likeable, easygoing and nice. And a chameleon.

I've got a book on psychological game theory. I'm thinking that this guy moves from the psychological side of it to the mathematical side of it in business. Basically his derangement became his occupation.

There's no way you'd guess she was younger than 13, huh? Just from watching it?

Tech know-how isn't that difficult to come by. If you are smart and diligent enough. I was making adjustments to my systems since I was in my teens. I'm not doing that much lately, because my systems usually work fine nowadays, although currently I'll have to get back to some of it, since I'm back to using Windows on one of my private machines, so I'll have to research Win10 thoroughly.

If you get math, you can easily understand psychology. Understanding people, well, that depends. But contrary to popular belief, sociopaths and psychopaths have very highly evolved empathy. What they lack is called "sympathy". They understand the emotions of other people so well, that they learn, how to imitate them. They just don't feel sympathetic most of the time, they don't emotionally connect.

Actually, I would. The eyes. Even though I know a 23 y/o girl who has a dollface, just like the girl in the picture, there are differences. Cheeks, eyes, chin. No signs of maturity yet in the OP. She's a very pretty girl and will be a killer, when she grows up, that twinkle in her eyes will go out.

What are you talking about? Are you proposing a new angle on this story or an alternative story? Or do you mean the chick in the OP pic?

Tech stuff is intuitive, but I'm not sure about this person's background. The mathematical and psychological parts of it both make sense.

The real question is genre: horror, thriller, or what?

The girl pictured is over 18. Sorority girl.

Then she is very probably quite naive. That spark tends to go out once you hit the bottom your first time.

Genre was for now stated thriller/drama , therefore I made suggestion for the antagonist.

Hasn't bottomed out. College freshmen are very naive, and very legal.

I like that genre with the antagonist. Gotta keep the action tense though throughout and plan a suitable climax. Not sure about the ending yet.

But since we're talking about writing, I had this thought in my mind for a few years by now: Contemporary semi-urban fantasy. The main angle would be a Venator Dei, a God Hunter. Basically a one-man hunter, prosecutor and prison for gods, demons and other supernatural beings, who for some reason became corrupted and strayed from their path.

Gods [ said the guy with a pentagram on his neck ] I sometimes wish for a + button on chans, so I don't have to clutter the thread with "I agree" posts.

What I find works with horror and fantasy well is making everything a low key metaphor even if it doesn't hold in every instance.

Our Gods, Demons, and other supernaturals would be an allegory for something in most stories. We might be talking about some sort of vigilante, but then we dress it up as something else.

Well, what I had in mind is the following: Gods, demons and other supernatural beings, from various faiths have a certain role. That is the reason, why they have so much power and that is also their prison - they can't diverge from their roles. If they do, they are sent to be corrected. Sometimes for a decade, sometimes for hundreds of years. So basically, the beginning would be almost no gods or demons in the world, because all of them have made mistakes and are now in correction. The main protagonist doesn't know, that he's not actually a living human, because his memories get reset every few decades and as long as there is no mischief, he lives like anyone else. There can be generations of him not being aware of his role.

It's your story, you can write it however you like. Sounds like we're talking about a government agent though.

Government agents have an agenda. And they are human, they can be bribed or blackmailed or killed. But sure, until I actually start working on the story, it's very difficult to go over it properly.

I kinda like black & white stories, even though I see the world mostly in shades of gray. It makes my inner child happy.

Reconstructions are fun. We live in an era of deconstruction to the point of near darkness induced apathy. Reconstructions are a good thing right now in the creative realms.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY A storm is brewing above my head! … yes, it's off topic, I just love storms >.> so I felt like sharing.

Good vodka?

If it's homemade or has amateur production values and does not feature a celebrity/celebrity's family member then it is valued at zero dollars and zero cents

worthless

Who is? And yeah, if you're a publicly known fetishist then it's zero leverage.

Amundsen. It's fairly average, but since the price is ok, and I buy in bulk, it's fine. I mean, Finlandia would be better, but frankly considering the price and the effects, it's almost the same… therefore I go for the cheaper alternative, since I decided to buy my booze in boxes.

Ah, I gotcha. Never bought booze by the box, but some point way down the line may lead me to start. I drink a lot when I get into the pace of writing a story.

Hmm.. author, question: Where are you from, and how do you want to base your characters. Different views, different culture around za warudo.

This is probably going to be Murrica centric. I suppose I could set it in Europe, but maybe some part of Murrica that doesn't get talked about much.

Ok, let me rephrase that: How do you want to set your characters' background?

Not sure. I'm thinking of throwing in either a chemical, botanical, or medical angle into the character. Do you know what Devil's Breath is?

Didn't know that name, but otherwise, yes. I am aware of it.

I was thinking that it would be the guy's MO, but I'm trying to figure out if that's best with a background in medicine, botany, or chemistry. Or if I even want to explain his background in-story at all.

You have a load to work on, since governments never found out, YET. I suggest a fictional drug. because, even though scopolamine exists, it's a sometimes lethal drug. You need something, we know nothing about yet.

I'll come up with something then. Or maybe I'll just leave it completely ambiguous.

Less dick
more pussy
Subjective: participants look like the people I know.