Cosmetics.

Let’s offer paid cosmetics for users of your instance. Animated or custom banners, posts, new themes, etc.

It’s a model that works really well for Discord and League of Legends. Instances offering to sell aesthetic luxury to their user base could work for Mastodon too.

It’s non-invasive, it’s optional, it’s a great addition for some people, and it allows to raise funds to keep the hosted instances up and running.

Do you think it’s viable?

  • Sibshops@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Mastodon is a non-profit that provides a service. Typically for non-profits, everyone gets to enjoy the service equally. Microtransactions and cosmetics would go against this principle, however I think it would still be worth to try.

    • carrotcypher@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Nothing about profit goes against Mastodon, Fediverse, open source, etc.

      It might go against most instances CoC or mission statements though.

      • Sibshops@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        > Nothing about profit goes against Mastodon, Fediverse, open source, etc.
        I’m not sure from where you are reading this, but Mastodon is registered as a non-profit organization in Germany. That means the extra costs have to go toward providing a service to the community instead of making a profit.

        I don’t understand how locking features behind monetization gives a choice to users, in fact, it’s the opposite, right?

          • Sibshops@alien.topBEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            I mean you could interpret their post that way, but it isn’t clear that they are suggesting branching off of mastodon to something else, kind of like how truth social did.