So, you want a gold dragon. Aside from the fact that we think you might be crazy, that's fine. People often do. However, we can only have one per clutch and only about five in the Weyr, total, so we've got to be pickier about golds than we are about everything else. On top of that, playing a goldrider is often not fundamentally exciting; you have to be the sort of player who can look outside the box, because your actual job as a goldrider ICly is pretty boring.

Therefore, what we're looking for in a gold applicant basically falls along these lines:

OOC Behavior

• Balanced: If you have significant RL problems right now, now is not the time to apply. Please do not make us reject you because of this—make the decision for yourself that your actual life, not a game, is the thing that you need to focus on first and foremost. A busy RL isn't the same thing as problems, but if you're going to be away, try to let us know.
• Sane: This doesn't mean you can't have mental health issues, but we want to make sure this whole process is healthy for everyone. The big one is that if you believe for some reason that not Impressing gold is going to significantly upset you, or especially that the Search process is going to cause you significant anxiety that will require either additional medication or self-medication through drugs or alcohol, please, try a character that comes with less uncertainty attached. If you know you're the sort of person who does not deal well with stressful situations, we have lots and lots and lots of ways that you can get involved that won't come with everything gold does. Unfortunately, we can't make guarantees that you will not have to deal with people in the future that are going to make your life hard. Goldriding seems to come with that.
• Creative: We're looking for people with lots of ideas for things they can do with their own characters, and ways those things can hook into other characters. We're not so much looking for people who are capable of running area-wide plots, or in fact, people who have any talent or desire to engage in OOC adminny stuff at all. Admins are admins. Goldriders are goldriders. Any overlap between the two is coincidental.
• Sociable: It helps a lot if you're someone who at least now and then is conversational. This is a social game as well as a roleplaying game. You don't have to be the world's loudest person, but be comfortable conversing with people. Even as non-staff, goldriders end up being the public face of the Weyr.

Roleplay

• Active player: Being online 24/7 will not help you; being regularly seen out RPing will. Posting logs is helpful but not required.
• Strong character personality: You've got stuff that can hold up to the doldrums of being a junior weyrwoman.
• Interesting scenes: You can involve a variety of people, do a variety of things, handle yourself in both crowds and small groups.

From those two lists, it's pretty easy to see that what we're basically looking for is normal people who want to play and do interesting things while playing. If we get multiple people who really meet all these criteria, there are going to be some judgments based on just personal feelings about which character would be most interesting for the group. Not Impressing gold, if you have not had someone approach you about problems during the cycle, does not mean that you are not a good player that we want around.

Avoid These Things!

• Event Planning: If you want to take this up, try coordinating some weddings or something. The ability to coordinate large events is not something we're looking for right now, and so no, we are not looking for people who run Gathers, fairs, area-wide plots, or whatever, while they are applicants. Doing so has a tendency to make people think you are trying too hard.
• One-Upsmanship: You are who you are. Try to be the best player you can be. If you are the best player you can be, and you want a gold, you might not get it this time, but chances are fairly good that you eventually will, or else you'll find another role where you're equally happy. You do not need to be online the most, or to have the most scenes, or to have been playing the longest, or to have the most outrageous character.
• Room Sitting: Just being online gets you no credit at all, not even if you're really talky on the knot.