XStruckX that's by far and away the single most accurate, close to the mark comparison I have ever seen. Your absolutely right, me and a friend that started in WoW(and constantly returns to it even tho he has 0 attention span for MMOs). FFXI was the first I played and all the ones since have left me feeling ... less than satisfied, but a new FF had the potential to be "the first ones sister", new, exciting, fresh, and yet somehow strangely familiar.

Instant gratification is nice but it'll never offer the same sense of satisfaction as having to actually "work" for something.

It's sad that kids these days have worse attention spans and less desire to really "work" for a thing than my generation, and mine got alot of "Your such a slacker" talk when we were kids. But all of what ya said is spot on, the newest and probably largest group of players are primarily interested in "I want it now" gaming.