Nice article, Maria. It's easy to lose sight of the audience and the need for multimedia to tell your story in unique ways for people to act upon the information. A short story is often harder to tell than a long one, but the long one may not be remembered as well or read as much. Keep It Short and Sweet (KISS) is still one of the best design principles...along with keeping the end user in mind.
I like how you mention that some of these sites don't have a clear route to purchase or too many steps to get to the purchase button. While we don't want to look like it's all about the money, a clear intuitive purchase path helps to fund the grid and let people be more than just casual visitors.
Some websites also bury the log in information, which makes it hard to get in world. Maybe try following the old adage of "put yourself in the other person's shoes" to see what they see when they setup a new account, log in, purchase land, etc. And why not ask your friends to "game test" your site and provide some constructive feedback. We're all used to a hypermedia immersive world and the web counterpart should engage us too if they want us to open the door and step inside...