So, I was wondering, when a game gets deleted is it really gone forever or stored elsewhere so it doesn't clutter the site? I ask because I recently lost a laptop and with it a good number of my old characters from this site. Is there a way to find the old games or are they lost forever?

P.S. I've switched to google docs to hold my character information now, learned from that previous mishap real quick.

When a GM deletes a game, it usually hangs around for a while before it is finally deleted.

You can use the search function on the main page to find a deleted game, but you need to uncheck "active" and "only active games requesting players" (and use a system, game name, or GM name as a base for the search).

If the game is no longer on the site as a deleted game... I don't think there's a way to get any data back.

If a game has lapsed into inactivity, and has been inactive for a number of months equal to: 2 months × (1 + (#_of_posts / 100)) (but no greater than 1 year).  At this time, it is usually moved to the "Deleted" area, where it may still be resurrected by the Game Owner.  If it's there for at least one month (but usually considerably longer) and is not resurrected, it may be deleted from the site in one of periodic clean-ups.

As Tileira said, if you Search for the game, and it does not appear in the search results, then it is gone completely, and nothing of it remains to be recovered.