I don't get it; why is grinding necessary? I always thought it was because the subscription based model required that the developers build BF Skinner's rat in the box model to get the players addicted by incrementally and randomly providing rewards. This is explained in great detail by John Hopson who has a PHD in behavioral and brain sciences. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3085/behavioral_game_design.php?page=1 Grinding for XP, items or whatever isn't a feature, it's a mechanism designed to do one thing only; get the players to behave a certain way. In other words, keep them playing and paying the subscription fee forever.

Abundance is the enemy of profit. Scarcity is profit's best friend. Economically speaking I agree with you, however if we can create the technology to produce everything in great abundance, we're going to have a lot of bored engineers wandering around. After awhile, innovation is going to explode. You can't motivate engineers with money, they motivate themselves by tackling difficult problems. Next thing you know, all of the necessities of life will become completely automated. Humans will become free from the shackles of a profit driven society; where people have to work to survive.