I guess my conclusion is that if you put your work in front of the largest possible group of customers, you discover that they are a boring mob who only want cheap crap. This has been your Wednesday Obviousness, join us next week as we discuss whether water is wet.
Thus the discussion turns to publishers and their fan bases, and other communities of curation. This is an indirect answer to the comments I saw on (e.g.) the "Post-apocalypse" article, saying (e.g.) "stupid devs are marketing only via twitter and the indie festival circuit". I think this is not unreasonable! And I don't just say that because I'm planning to do it myself!