[bmh100]

I feel that it's appropriate to draw parallels to Twitch.tv streamers here. Twitch streamers basically follow a patronage model. The main video stream is free, though sometimes higher quality options are not. In exchange for a monthly subscription, usually $4.99, viewers gain access to premium features, such as the ability to chat when chat rooms are restricted to subscribers, exclusive emoticons that can be used in any Twitch chat room, and even benefits with other websites and services.

It is not hard to imagine that this business model could have been used with mods. Mods would be prohibited from being paid-only, and an opt-in subscription could be implemented. Users would sample mods risk-free (financially at least) and could support the development of mods they deemed worthy.

[VLM]

I like the idea of listing analogies of existing economic models.

How about minecraft? Tee shirts, lets play videos, outright donation buttons, last but not least advertising encrusted download sites.

Something not discussed here, that did arise in the MC community discussions about the valve store, was synergy, which usually is a four letter corporate word, but it actually applies this time where a modpack project like feed the beast has 115 mods, and the compilation is stronger than the linear combination of any individual mod. Also if each FTB mod charged a modest $3 that means a working FTB modpack would be about $345, which suddenly isn't so modest. Its basically impossible to get an individual mod designer out of Ramen Noodle territory without making modpacks expensive enough to destroy them.