NPC Elections - Rules and Results Thread

[Lumine]

NPC Elections

Rules and Results

I. CONTEXT

What is this thread for?

This thread is solely for rules, questions and for delivering results. It is not for campaigning.

What are NPC elections?

A Game Engine simulation of elections involving non playable characters (NPC's), currently considering state legislatures, state executives and six mayors from key Atlasian cities.

Can I participate in them? How?

Every player - minus the Pontifex Maximus - has the theoretical ability to play by campaigning within the Atlas Fantasy Elections board. Players who lead their respective parties have additional roles in choosing where their parties will stand in a given election.

When does this take place?

On the last Saturday of every month, involving a rotating scheme of states and cities up for election.

So what's the goal?

On a large-scale perspective? Encourage more activity and old-fashioned campaigning, as well as providing feedback and consequences for player action, as well as showcasing the consequences of previous elections.

In the scale that matters the most? Just having fun.

What are the rules for this?

See next section.

[Lumine]

II. RULES

1.- SCHEDULE: Minus the first month, campaigning will start on the first Monday of every month, and end on the Friday before the last Saturday of the month (ex: July 2020 campaigning ends on Friday 24). Players will therefore have about three weeks to play the election, with an extra week allocated for calculating, writing and releasing results.

2.- CAMPAIGNING: NOT ON THIS THREAD. Players can campaign across the Atlas Fantasy Elections board, it is up to them whether they wish to do so on their own offices, in new threads or so on. Campaigning will follow the next guidelines:

• TYPE: Creativity and flexibility are encouraged. It's up to players to decide what type of campaigning they prefer, whether it is speeches, events, propaganda and so on, just as long as it doesn't breach the TOS.

-

• MARKS: Every type of valid campaigning will receive marks based on how effective it is judged to be. Spamming will result in rapidly decreasing marks, and/or maluses. Posting the same speech over and over again is not advisable. There will be a limit of 5 events per party on the final day, after which campaigning will only recieve half the usual marks.

-

• FAVORITE SON: There will be "favorite son" bonuses for players concerning their home state and region. Example: a player from New York will receive a small bonus for campaigning within Lincoln, and a larger bonus for campaigning in New York State or New York City. Players campaigning outside their state or region will not be penalized, but they will not have a bonus.

-

• ATTACKS: The effects of negative campaigning will be accounted for. If a given player launches an effective attack on another party, "negative marks" will affect the attacked party.

-

• DEBATES: Parties may agree to hold official debates between players (not NPC's), which could be marked by the Pontifex Maximus if agreed upon by all participants.

3.- PARTIES: Regional and National parties will play significant roles in the process, with different guidelines to account for their current differences in membership and status. Guidelines for parties are as follows:

• NATIONAL PARTIES: National parties (as recognized in the Census Bureau, in which there are 5 of) are assumed to be "on" in that they're automatically standing for office. Parties can choose not to contest a given election or form some sort of pact, and the official Party Chair(s) can formalize this via reporting to the Pontifex Maximus.

-

• REGIONAL PARTIES: Regional parties are assumed to be "off", in that they're not automatically assumed to be standing for office. Regional parties can choose to contest a given election or form some sort of pact, and the official Party Chair(s) can formalize this via reporting to the Pontifex Maximus.

-

• INDEPENDENTS: Version 1.0 of the NPC Elections cannot yet account for independents or for strictly NPC parties. This may be upgraded in future versions if a suitable mechanism is found.

-

• CANDIDATES: Due to the issues associated with choosing RL people (and potential conflict) the NPC candidates are not real individuals, nor are people expected to choose RL people to stand for their parties. This may be upgraded at some point.

3.- RESULTS: Results will be calculated accounting for a combination of player campaigning, fundamental factors (economy, domestic affairs, state of the parties) and registration/voting dynamics (how the state voted and what the registration numbers are).

• WEIGHTING: Not all factors are given an equal share of relevance to calculate the results. The exact proportion is hidden so as to discourage trying to "game" the system, but campaigning is the more relevant of the three.

-

• DETAIL: Version 1.0 contemplates a basic level of detail to maintain the sanity of the (non-US based) Pontifex Maximus. Players will be given a set of results, but it will not be possible for now to enter into great detail in terms of districts and/or specific legislative races.

-

• SYSTEMS: Regions use different electoral systems and rules, regulated via their legislation. Future changes to those pieces of legislation will be accounted for.

-

• VOTING HISTORY: One of the factors considered will be how a state voted in previous elections. Due to the rapidly changing dynamics due to registration shifts, this factor will only account for how the state voted in the last Presidential, Midterm and Regional election. Also because keeping track of more would drive me insane.

4.- CONSEQUENCES: As in RL, elections will have consequences. State officers will slowly start reacting to actions taken by players, which will be reflected on the Acta Publica. Given the systems employed by several states, coalition building may become necessary to build a majority in the legislature, allowing parties to negotiate in order to govern a given state. Lastly, players could attempt to lead a push to get a given state to adopt a certain position or stance, which will be simulated via the Game Engine. This, of course, is the most experimental aspect of the simulation, and will be carefully reviewed as new phases go by.

[Lumine]

III. OTHER INFO

THE ELECTION CYCLES

TURN 1: (July 2020) CO / WA / AZ / VA / MD / AL / RI / IL / NH / + New York City
TURN 2: (August 2020) CA / AK / SD / OK / SC / PR / WI / MI / IN / DC / + Miami
TURN 3: (September 2020) ND / ID / IA / MS / KS / WV / NC / NY / MA / Virgin Islands / + Los Angeles
TURN 4: (October 2020) UT / MT / WY / KY / MO / TX / VT / NJ / Guam / + San Francisco
TURN 5: (November 2020) NM / HI / NE / LA / DE / FL / PA / ME / Northern Marianas / + Chicago
TURN 6: (December 2020) NV / OR / MN / AR / GA / TN / OH / CT / Atlasian Samoa / + Houston

ELECTORAL SYSTEMS

LINCOLN:

Notes: Bicameral state legislatures (House + Senate, New Jersey House is a "General Assembly"), states allowed to switch to a semi-parliamentary system like regional government. Some states have nesting requirements for districts. Equal population seats, allows majority minority districts, redistricting via commissions every two years (starting in 2021). Instant runoff for House and Senate, states allowed to choose between PR list / MMP / or STV multi-member districts as alternatives for House.

		House Seats		Senate Seats
Connecticut		151		63
Illinois		118		59
Indiana		100		50
Maine		154		35
Massachusetts		160		40
Michigan		110		38
New Hampshire		400		24
New Jersey		80		40
New York		63		150
Ohio		99		33
Pennsylvania		203		50
Rhode Island		75		38
Wisconsin		99		33
Vermont		150		30
Virgin Islands		25		15

FREMONT:

Notes: Bicameral legislatures (House of Commons and Senate), requirement for HoC seats to represent between 10,000 to 100,000 people, Senate seats to be half the HoC seats (states choose the actual number of HoC seats). Boundaries to be revised every 10th year. Closed party list PR with a 5% threshold for the Senate, single-member constituencies for HoC. Fremont has the voting age at 16, and alll elections will be conducted via mail after July 2022.

		House Seats		Senate Seats
Alaska		40		20
Arizona		120		60
California		500		250
Colorado		100		50
Hawaii		50		25
Idaho		50		25
Iowa		80		40
Minnesota		160		80
Montana		50		25
Nevada		80		40
New Mexico		60		30
North Dakota		50		25
Nebraska		50		25
Oregon		80		40
South Dakota		50		25
Utah		80		40
Washington		120		60
Wyoming		40		20
Guam		14		7
Northern Marianas		6		3
Atlasian Samoa		6		3

SOUTH:

Notes: Bicameral state legislatures (House + Senate) with exception of the District of Columbia (unicameral), elected via STV.

		House Seats		Senate Seats
Alabama		105		35
Arkansas		100		35
Delaware		41		21
Florida		120		40
Georgia		180		56
Kansas		125		40
Kentucky		100		38
Louisiana		105		39
Maryland		141		47
Mississippi		122		52
Missouri		163		34
North Carolina		120		50
Oklahoma		101		48
Puerto Rico		51		30
South Carolina		124		46
Tennessee		99		33
Texas		150		31
Virginia		100		40
West Virginia		100		34
District of Columbia		13		-

[Joseph Cao]

Fantastic work as always, Lumine.

For the first go-around, are we operating under the assumption that these offices have literally been newly created out of thin air and are consequently unoccupied? Or is there, say, an actual NPC Labor mayor of New York City to campaign against for this round?

[Lumine]

Fantastic work as always, Lumine.

For the first go-around, are we operating under the assumption that these offices have literally been newly created out of thin air and are consequently unoccupied? Or is there, say, an actual NPC Labor mayor of New York City to campaign against for this round?

Thanks!

The offices are assumed to be filled with incumbents (as these local governments have continued to function since the reset), but I have chosen not to select the present incumbents - in essence ignoring them - so as to allow for a fresh start of sorts and to avoid having to come up with a way of deciding how many seats each party has (excessively time-consuming).

Plus before all three regions passed their new laws there was a gap on what the terms were, which opens up another set of problems. So for the time being incumbents do exist, but they remain unidentified for simplicity.

[Poirot]

I have questions, I'm trying to understand the role of a small party.

1- when the results are announced, will it be in detail, how many house seats and senate seats in each state a party wins. Could the Governor be of one party and the senate majority for another party.

2- if a party is assumed to have candidates and doesn't withdraw, and doesn't really campaign, can it still get some state legislature seats

3- will there be campaign points ? In the first thread presenting the idea of simulated elections one idea was this:

There will also be a role for parties (less important than players though). Each party will be given a total of Campaign Points at the start of each turn, and if they wish to do so they can allocate those points to the races they want to prioritize - to account for how in RL states are "targeted" -. Those points - a system already used often in Mock Parliament - will account for how large the party is and how well is doing. This is one is more of an experimental feature and if it doesn't work I may just ditch it, but I'd like to give it a try at least for Phase One.

My perspective is for a party with very limited resources, will it be hurt in standing in elections of no hope of winning but could be nice to have have 1% of the vote in many places, or concentrate in one race but be absent of results in most places. Maybe it's for players to discover with experience!

[Lumine]

Thanks for the questions Poirot, let's see:

1- when the results are announced, will it be in detail, how many house seats and senate seats in each state a party wins. Could the Governor be of one party and the senate majority for another party.

Yes, it will include how many seats each party has and which party the Governor (or Mayor) belongs to. And yes, they may differ, so it's perfectly possible to have a Governor who doesn't have a legislative majority.

2- if a party is assumed to have candidates and doesn't withdraw, and doesn't really campaign, can it still get some state legislature seats

Yes, it's unavoidable (otherwise a single party campaigning could get all the seats), but there will be an evident impact from parties that campaign as opposed to those that don't do so.

3- will there be campaign points ? In the first thread presenting the idea of simulated elections one idea was this:

There will also be a role for parties (less important than players though). Each party will be given a total of Campaign Points at the start of each turn, and if they wish to do so they can allocate those points to the races they want to prioritize - to account for how in RL states are "targeted" -. Those points - a system already used often in Mock Parliament - will account for how large the party is and how well is doing. This is one is more of an experimental feature and if it doesn't work I may just ditch it, but I'd like to give it a try at least for Phase One.

My perspective is for a party with very limited resources, will it be hurt in standing in elections of no hope of winning but could be nice to have have 1% of the vote in many places, or concentrate in one race but be absent of results in most places. Maybe it's for players to discover with experience!

For what it's worth I did toy with introducing the campaign points right away, but I need to see how the test run goes. For all I know people may simply disregard this or not campaign (or on the contrary, campaign very actively), which is why I prefer to keep things reasonably simple until I know whether players will engage with the mechanism. If things go really well and they turn competitive we might see it implemented soon.

In the meantime, parties shouldn't be really hurt from standing despite not being able to win.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Are you just going to look through each updated thread for posts or should we put some sort of [NPC] tag on the post so you can search for it?

[Lumine]

Are you just going to look through each updated thread for posts or should we put some sort of [NPC] tag on the post so you can search for it?

I'll just be looking for now, activity on the board is (sadly) low enough to make it feasible at this point. If that changes, I may consider alternatives.

[Lumine]

JULY 2020

CAMPAIGN PERIOD

Monday July 6th - Friday July 24th

UP FOR GRABS

Colorado
Washington
Arizona
Virginia
Maryland
Alabama
Rhode Island
Illinois
New Hampshire
New York City (Mayoral)

BALLOT ACCESS

NATIONAL PARTIES

Labor Party
Federalist Party
Democratic Alliance
Peace Party
Law and Justice Party
Liberal Party

REGIONAL PARTIES

Atlasian Future Party (South)
Dixieland Patriots Party (South)
Southern Trans Rights Party (South)
Fine Gayle (Fremont)
Fremont Future Party (Fremont)
Beauty and Bread (Fremont)
Sinn Fremont (Fremont)
Tricolor Party of Lincoln (Lincoln)
Populist Party of Lincoln (Lincoln)
Liberal Party of Lincoln (Lincoln)

CAMPAIGNING OPEN ACROSS THE BOARD

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

The Frémont Future Party (turquoise, red, or grey) is looking for ballot access.

[Mike Thick]

Fine Gayle will contest all elections within Frémont.

[Esteemed Jimmy]

The Populist Party of Lincoln will be running in the NPC elections.

[Deep Dixieland Senator, Muad'dib (OSR MSR)]

• REGIONAL PARTIES: Regional parties are assumed to be "off", in that they're not automatically assumed to be standing for office. Regional parties can choose to contest a given election or form some sort of pact, and the official Party Chair(s) can formalize this via reporting to the Pontifex Maximus.

I will of course be campaigning for my regional party in Virginia, Maryland & Alabama.

Does this not count as notification?

REGIONAL PARTIES

Atlasian Future Party (South)
Fine Gayle (Fremont)
Liberal Party of Lincoln (Lincoln)

Is AFP attempting to usurp the Dixieland Patriots Party color of Teal?

[Lumine]

All acknowledged! Six regional parties with ballot access thus far.

My party has access in Guam and Pennsylvania, do they count in home state advatanges?

Sadly no, home state advantage only count when the player is campaigning in his own region (minor bonus) or in the state in which he/she is registered (larger bonus).

(Also, do bear in mind Guam isn't up until October, and Pennsylvania is up in November)

[OBD]

Pretty sure Sinn Fremont is standing now.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

to avoid confusion, I ask the Pontifex Maximus to change the AFP (South) color to our alternate: Red and Dark Grey. (together, not separate)

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Since I guess I'm the STR chair now, since we failed to file for the July elections in time, we will be backing AFP candidates in the South.

[Lumine]

Since I guess I'm the STR chair now, since we failed to file for the July elections in time, we will be backing AFP candidates in the South.

Still in time to participate if you want, do let me know.

to avoid confusion, I ask the Pontifex Maximus to change the AFP (South) color to our alternate: Red and Dark Grey. (together, not separate)

Noted!

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Then yeah, we can contest the regional elections.

[S019]

The Lincoln Tricolor Party will also be contesting the regional elections (though it may withdraw from some later)

[Lumine]

Ballot access updated. I'll probably add a section later on regional alliances once the setting becomes more clear, but thus far we have five national parties with automatic access, another national one with access, and ten regional parties taking part (quite encouraging!)

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Worker's Party of Lincoln will be contesting the Lincoln elections in a regional pact with the national-affiliated Atlasian Green Party.

[Lumine]

BALLOT ACCESS

Updated

NATIONAL + ALLIANCES

1. Labor Party Sinn Fremont (Fremont)

2. Federalist Party

3. Democratic Alliance Atlasian Future Party (South) Populist Party of Lincoln (Lincoln) Liberal Party of Lincoln (Lincoln)

4. Green Party Worker's Party of Lincoln (Lincoln)

5. Peace Party

6. Liberal Party

7. Law and Justice Party

REGIONAL PARTIES (Unaffiliated)

Dixieland Patriots Party (South)

Southern Trans Rights Party (South)

Fine Gayle (Fremont)

Fremont Future Party (Fremont)

Beauty and Bread (Fremont)

Tricolor Party of Lincoln (Lincoln)

[Lumine]

Ballot access updated + alliances, please let me know if there's mistakes.

Brilliant work so far, gentlemen! Trying to catch up on the current GM backlog, will do my best to get a story out to give you some feedback before campaigning closes on Friday.