well, the Subject line pretty much summed up my question right from the start.

i personally think a DLC should be free since you paid for the base game.

I think the ultimate question it all comes down to is what kind of DLC is that. Basically, if it's free - there will be no questions asked, no eyebrows raised. It can be anything it wants be, ranging from multiplayer fixes and "horse armors" to full-blown sequels.

If it's paid, then it's different story entirely. If DLC is integral to the game in question and it's not free, then the original game was a clear scam. An exaggerated example would be a hypothetic Super Mario game with Mario, Luigi, Peach and Bowser characters only available as DLC.

If it's not, then it is expected to be accordingly priced. Basically, DLC is a more flexible variant of addons. It's flexible both in the amount of this actual "downloadable content" and its price. I consider mini-adventures for Fallout 3 to be a bit steep, I don't think they worth more then $5, contentwise. They obviously worth even less, were we to consider their quality as well.

I'd be happy if I could pay for it with actual money, fuck that kiddie pretend-currency shit that Microsoft has going on up there >=(

Yeah, because we all know that stuff they make afterwards didn't cost them a penny to make.

My view would be; feel free to release DLC that costs nothing, but if you're going to charge for it make sure it's in proportion to what you're actually trying to sell. Over pricing is one of the worst offenses in my eyes when it comes to stuff like that.

The Avatar add-on outfits for XB360 are a good example...

(... but then again, if anyone's stupid enough to care enough about their avatar to actually pay for them, I guess it serves that person right.)

Some DLC shouldn't be priced the way they are. Good example is the latest Red Faction downloads. The Demons of the Badlands was $9.99 for 3 main story missions, about a handful of side missions and gives just a bit of backstory to the original and can be very glitchy and pixelated at times. Mostly it was made for achievements or trophies. Now on the other hand, the new Multiplayer pack had 8 new maps and 3 new modes for a steal at $6.99. I thought it should have been the other way around, but oh well.

There's a limit to DLC-peddling. If the add-ons are necessary to finish up a somewhat incomplete/buggy game, it starts to remind you of Johnny Long Torso, and there's a problem. :-)