We ran into the same issue with Godaddy. The problem is SMTP relays that are heavily used by spammers. The web hosts are highly proactive in order to avoid being shut down by the major email services (AOL, Yahoo, etc.). Godaddy's limit is 1000/day.
I think you're onto something with a hybridized virtual / real world model (your solution 1). For our pandemic flu simulation project (pandemicsimulation.com and simdemic.com), we considered such a model. That construct would have created a SecondLife version of an entire health system network that had live data feeds to admissions and supply data from a real hospital system in Long Island NY. Meanwhile, we learned of a compelling SecondLife project in Idaho that is worthy if your attention at www.play2train.org. -Mark Underwood / (Applied Visions Inc.)