I think it'd be a pretty bad idea to commission a large scale mod like that from someone who isn't already passionate about working on it to begin with. If you crowdfund it, you're gonna have a hard time nailing down the design specifications in the first place. With kickstarter, the developer also sets the specifications and has the motivation to work on it, but with a commission, you'd need the backers to agree on every detail ahead of time. Then once the mod is released, people are still gonna want to see new features added in. Some people will want it to support new jobs for differently themed CityRPs, people may want certain options added in to tweak the gameplay on their servers, and every once in a while someone will come along pitching a major new feature that a few users will want added in. But then what? Do you start a crowdfunding campaign for a new version, or do you hold Pecon responsible for long term maintenance? Sure bug fixes would be expected, and if you asked nicely you could probably get a couple small updates with some new functions, but bigger features would mean another commission.
You could probably solve a few of these issues if you had someone in the middle to manage the crowdfunding and write the specs ahead of time, working with Pecon to keep the cost from outpacing the amount of money coming in, but that doesn't determine where the line is drawn for what kind of long term development Pecon remains responsible for, and also introduces some other questions, like "do the backers have the right to ask for those small tweaks, or do they have to go through the same middle-man," "is the person who managed the crowdfunding at all responsible for its long term maintenance," or "can someone commission major features be added on to the CityRP, then keep that as their own private branch of the mod without releasing it?"
I think getting the mod made this way would be any number of disasters waiting to happen.
