Persistence and the relationship between stuff and place

Well, persistence is what I'll need to embody in order to make sure I catch up to the postings here, and do my share. I'm not a natural poster in the blogosphere; I find that I don't feel comfortable hanging developing thoughts out there all naked, I want them to be at least partially clothed. But, here goes, some naked thoughts, and I promise to post at least weekly. (If you are interested in a larger more abstract context for these thoughts, take a look at the last three posts in my Learning Reflections blog http://vickisuter.blogspot.com to be read in this order:
“Learning and Design of Virtual Worlds”
“Sense of Presence in Virtual Worlds”
“Sense of Place and Space”)

I've been wondering about the importance of persistence in making virtual worlds compelling learning environments. In this sense, I mean persistence of place (there are places that are always there, that I can navigate to, with the same look and feel) and in these persistent places or associated with them are persistent containers for stuff (I have a way to store my stuff for my own access later, and for sharing with others over time), and the relationship between place and stuff (I can go on a quest to a particular location and get some stuff that I want, I can leave stuff at a place for others).

The other object of my curiosity is the power to create or change stuff - how important is it to creating a compelling experience? How much energy should designers/virtual world creators put into creation of content, or is it better that content be generated for the most part by the virtual world's inhabitants? These of course are the two models for content generation: the first is the WoW model, and the second is the Second Life model.

There seems to me to be a connection between these two groups of questions: persistence of place, and the creation of content, and that this connection relates in turn to the relative importance of a sense of place and space as described in my Learning Reflections postings.

Of course, the more technical term for stuff is artifacts (for activity and shared practice). Watcha think?