When I signed on to the Weavers site, I thought for sure I'd finally found the place where I could get into a good game. But, alas, I find myself still without a game. I've applied, but with so many players, and my lack of knowledge and experience, I have yet to be selected as a player for any game. I don't know if my pictures aren't pretty enough, or my story isn't good enough, or what. I did finally get in a game on another forum and someone actually made a post last week! (read as much sarcasm as you can into that last line)

Does anybody have any pointers on how to receive the wonderful and glorious honor of being chosen to participate in a game?

What sort of game are you looking for, in particular? There are so many varieties running, such as D&D (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and now 5th editions), GURPS, Freeform, and dozens others. What setting do you seek? RP or dice heavy?

From my experience, the first few games are the hardest to get in, simply cause most Dm's check ones gaming history to see how reliable a person seem to be and what their RP style seem to be like, which is kind of hard when there is no previous games.
It is quite impractical that it seem to work like that.

If you are a Pathfinder player, you could join the Pathfinder Society games here on MW. They are usually first come, first served for who plays. PM me if you need help with that.

As for prettying up your application, one easy way to do that is to find a pretty application format that you like and quote it so you can see the code behind the layout, then sub in your own character's details. I'd also put a small snippet of in-character writing in your application too... a quote or a small scene so e GM can see your writing style. Make sure your grammar is correct.

I personally don't put too much stock in how pretty an application is though, I'd rather see an active participant in the game ad thread or someone who was interested in finding someone else with whom to make a collaborative back story that fits the theme. From a GM's point of view, the only way to distinguish between applicants is through the quality and abundance of their posts in those pre-game threads. If I see someone just drop an application and never post again, it doesn't look as good as someone who asks pointed questions that relate to how your character might fit into the setting, someone who makes a very setting-appropriate character or someone who tries to work a bit on party back story if it's an open-ended start to the campaign.

The other thing I'd suggest is to look at what applications are already in the game and propose a character that fits a different role. Propose a cleric if there isn't one yet, or something. The other place to mine for upcoming games is in the game planning thread, which often has these kinds of collaborative discussions going on before the game starts. If you join in there, you're in on the ground floor so to speak and start with a leg up compared to the other players.

the system influence your odds, half planet apply for dnd 3.5 just 3 or 4 for other types
its a bit of luck sometimes, take me as example, i had the luck to be picked in 3/4 games in my first 2 weeks, even in a game i had no experience(thanks Ginsay)
keep trying and dont take it bad if you dont get chosen, happens
maybe look for simple games, sometimes a gm start a game to teach a system, look for them or even ask one to be made , so you can solve the low experience problem

One of those generic bits of advice that sounds stupid but isn't is to do what you're doing now: reach out, join threads and talk to people. Get known. A fair number of games are filled behind the scenes, with GM's recruiting players they like, know or are familiar with before they ever put an add for the game up. And frankly, sometimes when a GM is looking at thirty apps that are all well written and interesting remembering you from that debate thread about Planescape vs. Darksun can be enough to tip the scales. The Weave is a community and as such the old social standbys of networking and participation still help.

Also, when you are applying take the opporunity to ask questions - don't pester, obviously, but engage: say, rather than throwing up a boilerplate generic cbackground ("from a town on the edge of the wilds") that can kind of fit anywhere in any setting talk to the GM about it and ask if there are any campaign or setting specific bits of background that could work or enrich the character ("from the hamlet of Iron-wall on the edge of the Eastern Expanse, etc") . . . getting invested and getting a conversation going lets the GM take your measure in more ways than the straight up app does.

Lastly, even if you don't make the cut for a game you can always ask if the GM will allow readers - it gets you familiar with the games on-site and, in the event that the GM needs to replenish their players due to losses you'll have a leg up on re-applying.

Also, send a polite PM to the GMs of games you didn't get into. Remind them of the character you submitted, and ask if they have any suggestions on how you could have written your proposal better. It could be nothing more than your lack of history, and applying to games where the GM is swamped with players to pick from.

Not to get all fanboy about it, but my experience with M-W is that it's a slower start because the quality of players is higher, and GMs are less willing to take a chance on a new person. If you can provide writing examples, try making them tailored to the game that's being run, showing a day in the life of your character within the setting provided. It's more work, and more risk, but it's never failed me.

Wow, you can't say you guys aren't reading posts. I didn't expect that much response so fast. Thank you.

I see posts with questions about races and classes I've never even heard of. I find that I don't know enough to even ask some of those questions, so I just don't ask. I am one of those that posts an app and nothing else. So, there's one problem I need to fix.

I don't get on and socialize much and therefore, nobody knows who I am. And it doesn't do much good just to say that I can post a dozen times a day, if they can't see that I've posted much in the past. So I guess I need to start running my mouth on here some.

Thanks for all the input guys, I really appreciate it. Hopefully I'll get into a game soon and can start making a name for myself here.

If Pathfinder is interesting to you, like I said, join the PFS group here. There are new games posted there every week or two that are pretty much all first come, first served, so you'll get your chance to get your post count up that way. There is just a little bit of bookkeeping to register your character with the site and with Paizo.

The group is here, just ask to join and the moderators will point you to what you need to do to get going:
http://www.myth-weavers.com/game.php?g=10073

Thanks!