what would be actually overwhelming is many, many competing forks, as the codebase fails to accommodate the flexibility that people desire from the game.
http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Licensing_and_Law/forking.html
you seem to think that a game must be composed entirely of things that are meticulously and perfectly designed to interact with each other, that if it isn't perfect, it isn't worth playing.
I don't think that's true. There are many reasons a game could be worth playing—while i think that fun is certainly the most common reason, and my personal experience has shown that making a fun game requires meticulous thought, there are other reasons, like playing a classic game to understand why it's a classic, even if it's a not fun or even sometimes actively bad game.
you're also taking quite a pessimistic point of view of mods' ability to work together. it is incredibly realistic for two mods that are not written with each other in mind to work quite well with each other[…]
I suppose i am being a little pessimistic, aren't i?
in modded games (well, mostly just minecraft), I find myself changing the mods around between play sessions to create new gameplay situations and interactions.
That sounds like an addiction to novelty.