How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO

[Ink]

1. Provide Dominions via digital distribution for FREE.
2. Hire (or pay retrospectively since he is the ENTIRE FREAKING. REASON YOU HAVE A PLAYER BASE, Shrapnel) llamabeast to program a game server.
3. Charge players 50 cents to join a game and 5 cents per turn played.
4. ???
5. Profit

how long have you played dominions? 1, 2, 3, 4 years? How many games are you in?

Imagine that there is NO upfront cost. You get the game and can single player for free. Evidence for or against the idea is anecdotal at best; but we all know that many players are put off due to 1) the cost of the game and 2) lack of digital distribution. We all know that Shrapnel hikes up the cost higher than a whore's skirt because they think it is a 'niche' game that 'niche' players will pay anything for, and they are sort of right. But the game is freaking fun, and many other people would come to enjoy and get addicted to it given the opportunity.

Problem is the current marketing scheme does little to funnel new players into the multi player aspects of the game (where it truly shines and was designed for). Long time and heavy players like myself would have painlessly paid 3 or 4 (at minimum) times the current cost of the game in a pay-to-play setup. Current average players would probably cover their cost of the game. And tons of players who would currently never ever play due to cost and Shrapnel's "this is a niche game" defeatism would be playing.

Obviously, a lot of stuff would have had to happen in Dominions design and release for a payment scheme like what I suggest, so it may have just never been very likely given when Dom was released. Really, the moral of the story is: When was the last time you donated to the llamaserver?