The king of alter egos is surprisingly humble guy

0 Comments | USA TODAY, February, 2007 | by Kevin Maney

SAN FRANCISCO -- Philip Rosedale didn't create Second Life to be a game or a toy. He thinks he is remaking the Internet -- taking it on a giant leap forward, much like the invention of the Mosaic browser or World Wide Web.

"What would feel like success?" Rosedale says, pausing to think about it. He is in the funky, ragged cafeteria of the company he founded, Linden Lab, which built and runs the groundbreaking, buzz-generating online virtual world called Second Life. Half-eaten Costco-size bags of chips and bowls of fruit lie on bare tables. Rosedale is wearing jeans and an orange sweater, hair gelled and spiked. With his classic good looks and wide-eyed enthusiasm, Rosedale seems like a cross between Brad Pitt and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

"Not money," he...