Backbench Support System 2001

[Barclay A.A. Stanley]

Backbench Support System

The Backbench Support System (BBS) is how we determine votes. Though the support can be somewhat fluid, this gives you a good idea of how backbenchers move around and support the various important people (read: player characters) in each party. They are based on factions and XP. Players can earn XP through the normal means of playing the game, particularly through their performances in the press and in Parliament. Additionally, XP is earned by gaining promotion to new roles (though that XP is diminished if you leave that role.)

Players are then divided into their factions and their share of the faction's total XP is used to determine their share of the BBS for that faction. So, all of the players in, for example, the Blairite faction are pooled together, their individual percentage of the group's total XP is then multiplied by the number of seats that the faction holds, and then it is rounded. This is how we come to your BBS total.

Again, I cannot stress enough that the BBS is not a hard-and-fast rule. Players who go wildly outside of their faction's remit will not be joined by the majority of their BBS supporters and they may even begin to lose supporters if they push it further. The BBS is an indicator of a character's overall influence, not a determining factor in the final results of votes.