About

The name “Dedric Mauriac” is the name I choose for my character (also called an avatar and a resident) within Second Life. I take screenshots of personal projects, events, and places and post them to this blog. I often add a comment about what is going on in the screenshot along with some opinions and thoughts.

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My real name is Lewis Moten. I work for Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) with a title of Senior Member Programmer Analyst. I develop information systems and administrate databases.

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For all things related to Second Life, I can be contacted in a few ways:

• Gmail: dedric.mauriac
• Skype: dedric.mauriac
• Personal island in-world: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Woodbridge

For communications related to topics outside the realm of second life, you can contact me through my regular channels of communictions.

• Gmail: lewismoten
• Skype: lewismoten

In Second Life, I build objects such as toys, gadgets, buildings, clothing, and more. I program them so that other people may interact with them. I take many screenshots of what I see and do an post them to my blog so that others my see what the world is capable of. I also tend to experiment with new technologies such as recording live podcasts with audience participation.

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I have been in Second Life since November 28, 2005. I was waiting with my wife for a doctor’s appointment. She had found an article about Second Life regarding the recent change in Linden Lab getting involved with their own currency exchange. The article went on about a homeless person who owned a mansion in the virtual world. It had also outlined how each person could build things and go on to sell them to others.

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One of my original goals was to find something the keep me entertained. I had been playing many different online games that did not capture my attention for too long. Once a game was understood, it started to be boring. Second Life is a platform that constantly changes, and keeps me active in learning how it is changing.

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Rather than being a single game, other people build games within the platform with their own rules of play. So many things occur in-world that I decided to record my experiences through a blog. I’ve also become a better person in communicating with others and have applied these new skills in the real world.

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Was there anything in-world that surprised you, something that youmay not have expected?

1. When I first joined second life, my main surprise was howmature everyone was.There were no competitive personalities to deal with.
2. The fact that most of the world was created by residents,and not the staff of Linden Lab surprised me as well.

What do you hope to achieve in-world?

1. I would like to be able to cover my monthly tier expenses with in-world sales.
2. I would like to develop a really great product that everyone knows by name.

What is your motivation?

1. It’s just who I am.
2. New things constantly interest me.
3. I love to pursue knowledge and understand how things work.

How many Residents frequent your island/business? Daily? Monthly?

1. 50 to 60 people a day
2. Roughly 1000 to 1500 people a month

How do you measure your success in-world? Is it by money or another means?

1. I measure by visitor statistics and how much money I am paying formy island at the end of the month.
2. I also look at how many people like to talk to me once they arrive atmy business.
3. I appreciate how long people look around rather than arriving and thenleaving quickly.
4. The fact that showing up at SLCC 2007 and a ton of people knew of myproducts.

What are some of your favorite places in-world?

1. Mostly the continent that my island is a part of (Los Arboles,Nowhereville, Edloe, Woodbridge, BlaksleeWorld)
2. Skynx. The place is very nice and natural and has lots of critterson display that are lively.
3. Gannet Island – Tuna Oddfellow puts on the craziest, weird, andodd shows constantly.
4. TreeEstates IV – Interesting museum of wonder.

What do you think makes Second Life interesting?

1. The wide variety of dedicated people getting creative.
2. The fact that you can make something that really helps someoneelse and get positive feedback.
3. The ability to communicate with someone in 3D rather than by words andpictures alone with most social networking sites.
4. The ability to leave a footprint of who you are entangled with the restof the world.

What are the pros and cons of doing business in Second Life?

1. Cons
   1. Every little piece of news can have some kind ofimmediate and long term effect.
   2. Not everyone has a strong cash flow with money to spend.
   3. It is hard to find what works and what doesn’t with advertising.
   4. No control over what will happen next.
      1. At any time, someone abusive can show up.However, there are tools to take care of this after the fact.
   5. Mainland is very laggy.
2. Pros
   1. Unlimited natural resources.(I don’t have to buy prims/scripts before I sell them)
   2. Meeting new people.
   3. Instant feedback and suggestions from potential buyers that permit meto make changes before their very eyes.
   4. Ability to run a store with little investment and makesales while I am sleeping or at work.

What do you see in the future for Second Life?

1. Better In-world web integration
   1. URL on a prim
   2. Underlined URL’s in a note card
   3. Rich-Text note cards with formatting and visible pictures.
   4. Scripting language having ability to run in objectsas as a limited web server
2. Social networking website counterpart
   1. Profile pages for people, places, regions
   2. Snapshots
   3. Machinima
   4. Blogging
   5. Comments
   6. Ratings
3. Opening up the API more to allow SL to be managedeasier from outside sources.
   1. Download RAW imagesfor islands (for automated backups off-grid)
   2. Manage audio/media streams for parcels
   3. Manage access control for parcels and regions
4. Plug-in architecture for the viewer to support things such as
   1. Post-processing filters for snapshots
   2. Client-side scripting language
   3. Integration with 3rd party software
   4. Import/Export of 3D objects