Thanks for the reply. I do see how it's important for DW to be very careful about different addon options, given that the site isn't ad-supported and such. The most important thing is keeping the site running well and sustainably, since its functionality and careful planning is one of its biggest drawcards.

Still, the problem with DW in terms of icons and roleplaying is that in many cases, for roleplaying accounts where a person isn't sure they'll be playing a character often but would still like to have plenty of icons and would be willing to pay a little bit for that, they're unlikely to go as far as getting a paid account. (That's not so much of a problem with personal accounts, since for those, people will usually only have one.) Looks as if a la carte userpics can't be the solution for that at DW, though. There is always the possibility of getting extra accounts just to use for their icons, but people do get used to the convenience of not having to switch accounts in mid thread.