Calling this "database consumption" seems to imply a disdain for fans who are less concerned with a grand narrative than characters or elements of the setting, as if it's a mental downgrade, but many of the examples given involve fans actively creating and remixing works. As someone with an interest in doujin music and fan comics/fiction, I question the idea that this is less of a rich form of engagement than passively consuming an epic narrative that someone else has laid out for you. Sure, Sturgeon's Law applies but there are people creating fan works that require serious talent and expertise (check out EastNewSound, Zytokine/itori or Akatsuki Records/Stack in the genre of "Touhou fan music").
On the other hand, I do see a rise in gacha games that revolve around collecting an extensive cast of characters that cater to different "aesthetic preferences" on the parts of the fan community, and in which overall narrative inevitably has to take a back seat to providing content for each character. Perhaps that's another logical endpoint of this.