Alternatives to Second Life

An interesting article on alternatives to Second Life. I'm disturbed somewhat about the divide(s) within SL. I'm not sure what it all means for education and if stuff-based identity is all so bad, but the SL system, and the SL culture seems to push such distinctions (I have wings, hair, clothes etc. that you don't) that don't seem to further healthy education from a larger perspective. SL certainly encourages exploration, but it seems so geared toward acquiring stuff--not just so you have it, but so you have stuff others don't. Again, no one has to participate in these activities, but SL IMHO seems built around stuff-gathering. I haven't tried or investigated all the alternatives listed in the article, but more open-source alternatives appear toward the bottom.