How many modders get jobs in the industry, though - is it like musicians getting signed to labels in terms of percentages?

But if you have lots of downloads and can brag - and you're pleasing others - is it wrong to make it possible for them to give you something small as a token of their appreciation? Does it seem like you're only doing it for the money, then? Even if the total you'll get is only enough to buy some RAM or a better mouse?

Only one person needs to buy it from your site and come here to ModsOnline and host it for free for everyone.

And I don't think modders can really copy right [in real life] the stuff they create as they don't have a proper license to do so with the tools/engine they use (unless it's Maya/3DS/Photoshop where the license allows it).

Exactly.

I'm talking about giving away your stuff and telling people who like it that they can give you something small if they want.

Not selling. It's pointless to sell anything that can be copied. It will distribute itself better if you just let it go. Look at how well TV shows and music distribute themselves on the Net...

It's more like a tip or a donation, although the first one is what you give a waiter and the second sounds like charity, which is why I think the word "patronage" is better. Modders are artists. They create.

You give your stuff away and understand that it's not something you can sell - that doesn't mean that some people (maybe only a few, but there are some of us) wouldn't like to give a few cents back. I can think of lots of maps, mods, patches and even just servers I'd like to have supported over the years. If enough people gave 10 cents it might have made a real difference to the creators of those.

I guess it's a weird idea. It just seemed to me that we don't need to sell things - that there are enough people out there who would want to give something back even though they're not being forced to pay.