How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO

[thejeff]

I'm not really too concerned with the rent/own issue, though questions of what happens when/if Shrapnel shuts the servers down would get raised.

The whole experience ladder/special bonuses/buying bonuses thing just turns me off completely. I enjoy playing the game. I don't want special rewards to encourage me to play. Nor do I want to have to buy special bonuses to compete. I don't want to have to play lousy nations to unlock the special nations.

The other issue not brought up with the idea of only having an official server is mods. How would mods be approved for use and installed on the official server? Or maps for that matter?