This is a quick and dirty guide but if you listen to some of the advice, you may have a better chance at getting into a scene in the chatroom. These are some things I've picked up for the two years I've been using it off and on and somethings I can tell you having been the one propositioned for a scene.
1. Study the Market
When I started, there was a distinct lack of predators in the chat. I saw what was biting (sexy, female characters) and went for it. A good idea is to get your foot in the door with a person. Never play something you don't want to play, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is to look for something you like doing enough to do maybe an hour long scene of it and find ten people who are looking for it. Later, they might be willing to try something you like better or you might meet a friend through them that likes something more in line with your personal interests. Point is, if you're not getting scenes you're not really going anywhere so you might have to be a bit flexible.
2. Have an interesting character
No more orphans, me and a few others actually ignore characters with "orphaned," "abused," or "abandoned" in their profile (not all the time but I'll explain later the interpretation of this trope.) Having something like that often looks like you're fishing for sympathy and that's not what I, personally, am looking to give out. In fact, I don't know anyone looking to give out sympathy during a scene, so having a character completely determined by this tragedy that was not their doing is over done and honestly, comes off as a lazy use of a trope. On the flip side, OP characters are equally boring for the other reason. I'm not here to gawk at the vast depths of your insufferable ego. Dominance doesn't have to come with god-like powers, submissiveness doesn't have to be caused by tragedy. I'm not telling you not to create abandoned or psychologically tortured characters, I'm just telling you that if you are going to go that route, distinguish them a little and make them fun to play with and have interesting things that can happen during a scene, don't just make them an orphan. Orphans aren't interesting on their own, they're just people in a shitty situation. You could also make suicidal Bob and that would be about as interesting as an orphan. Probably more, I'm more interested in why Bob is suicidal than why an orphan is living in my wall.
3. Don't come up and ask your partner what they want you to do
Honestly, this is a huge personal pet peeve of mine. Coming up to someone and asking them to design a scene between the two of you comes off as lack of initiative. What are you going to be like in a scene if you don't have an inkling on how to go about creating material now? Am I going to have to hold your hand the entire time and give you shit to do? That's not me, that's not why I'm here. If I was just looking to entertain someone looking to bust a nut, I'd be writing erotic fiction not trolling for RP scenes. Speaking of which, I've only seen the custom or fantasy roleplay schtick work a couple of times. Also, on the flip side once again, asking me to ignore the character I've created and play out a scene with a pre-made character of your own from a list of scenarios, kind of dickish, but that's just me.
4. Don't do things the player asks you not to do in their profile
Put simply: it rarely works in your favor and usually doesn't. Don't do it. Also, don't walk up to someone and ask if they can alter their character for you unless it's something minor like age. Don't ask someone to change genders or anything major unless they've stated in their profile their willingness to do so.
5. Develop a full profile
A good profile will usually consist of
- Paragraph history of the character
- A couple of interests or hobbies
- A full, detailed description of the physical aspect of the character
The profile is how you introduce someone else to your character and playstyle. If the profile seems lazy, people are going to assume you're lazy and won't play with you. If it's too wordy, people often get scared off. A good balance is to watch what you put in there. Explain there is a history but people shouldn't have to read about it. Playing your hand early is also a sign of bad rp instincts. Remember, you're telling half of a story and if you've already written that in the profile, you don't have much else to contribute. At the same time, characters with excessive profiles seem inflexible and it's hard to finagle them into a working RP. On the flip side, a sentence long profile is a good way to get ignored. "Is a fox" is stupid and doesn't work. It's not more flexible, it's just a random scattering of ideas that I'm not even let in on before I agree to an rp, and I personally don't like having to guess what your character looks like. (One person asked me to actually describe their character for them. Don't do this if you don't want me to ignore you.)
This is just some stuff I've noticed. If it's wrong or seems inaccurate, it's probably just that I don't understand the chat as well as you do. Personally, I've seen a lot of people not doing the above and I believe that's why there's a lot of animosity towards the chat room.
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