The idea of the consumer is really interesting and you are right, for the most part this is just an authors and curators model. Some of the investors and developers think the consumers will be gamers or dapp users. They think of content like streaming may also attract an audience. We are here as you said because everyon has ran away.
I have found one-side on this debate that is worth mentioning...the people who are not here for the money or the general community (michaelb said something like he just wants to get back to reading and curating what he was doing before). They found their little happy place and simply don't care for the drama anymore. I really want to find that place. I think a semiclosed Community and an internalized SMT would make it happen, but I also have no energy to set that up. I have hope someone will so let's not abandon or torch the place till it happens.
The consumer is the curator. Of course there will be consumers of games and everything else. Micheal is one of the first who gets what I'm talking about. He bought in so he can get paid to enjoy himself. Plus he's not throwing his money away donating to content producers. We'll lose people like that if we can't keep them entertained. Millions of those people are necessary, even if they only buy enough stake for a vote worth a penny.
There are certain authors who I hang around more for the discussion than the content, but that's my viewing style. Others are passive readers who like the comments, and still, others just want the content. Let's hope this can continue somewhere. There are definitely millions of people who would pay a few hundred dollars to get a vote worth enough to have a better chance of getting noticed. Pay to shout above the crowd, perhaps get rewarded for it if others really like it, risk being downvoted if it is obnoxious.
The consumer pays to have a vote worth something, not the producers....
A bunch of self voting rich folks with nothing good to say does not attract millions of consumers. Talent does. One should be able to build up a following of thousands of consumers willing to vote and those votes should be worth something because the consumer paid. When the consumer is done, they can have their money back, plus whatever else their earned in rewards, or they can spend a month enjoying content and use the rewards to pay their internet bill.
What you're saying is backwards. One million content producers all self voting means nobody is reading or watching.
Sorry, my point was unclear. I was thinking the consumers would pay to get their opinion on their content noticed or to reward the content producer via curation. Not to uovote their own stuff. For example sort comments by size of upvote.
A lot of youtubers produce content specifically for their patreon supporters and amswer super chat questions first.
Ideally I try to answer everyone who leaves genuine feedback, but if I had millions of followers I would want to prioritize those who pay the piper to a certain degree.