Sort of in the same vein (as far as I can tell) as VastPark, Areae has unveiled their newest project, Metaplace. The new twist seems to be the really low threshold to entry - whether or not this is a good thing is probably debatable - but they do seem to be going after an incredibly diverse market, realizing that people are using virtual worlds for more than grinding through MMORPG levels and whatever it is people do in Second Life:

Our goals are sort of idealistic. We think there are all kinds of things on the Internet that would be improved if anyone could have a virtual place of their own. Right now, there aren't enough good games, for example, and they all seem to be about elves in tights or soldiers in battle armor. Metaplace allows more diversity. Right now, there are lots of people who want to use virtual worlds for research, or education, or business, but it's just too darn hard to get one going. Now you can create a world in just a few minutes and start tailoring it to your needs. Basically, we wanted to democratize the process of making online spaces of all sorts. ...

Signups for the alpha close on Monday, but the people over at Metaplace say they will do their best to roll over those who don't make the cut for the alpha into the beta test.

Metaplace [via Terra Nova]