Market Description
This market is a ranking competition in which animals are evaluated across three traits: Strength, Intelligence, and Likability.
Scoring System
For each trait, I will rank 10 selected animals.
Ranks 1 through 10 will earn 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points respectively.
An animal’s overall score is the sum of the points it receives across all three trait rankings.
The animal with the highest overall score will be declared the winner of this market.
While personal preference and subjective judgment cannot be eliminated entirely, I will make a good-faith effort to answer questions and explain how I evaluate each trait and determine relative rankings.
Eligible Animals
At a cut-off time (to be announced), I will select the 10 animals that I believe have the strongest prospects of winning.
Only these 10 selected animals will be considered for all trait rankings and overall scoring.
Market will remain open for trading for a period of time to allow prices to settle down based on the 10 selected animal list.
Market Resolution
The market will resolve based on the animal that finishes with the highest overall score under the scoring system described above.
The market close date and cut-off date will be announced once finalized. The cut-off will likely be set with a buffer period to reduce last-minute sniping.
Notes:
If a subspecies appears superior to a general animal species, I may replace the existing option with that subspecies if traders suggest it.
(Example: I could replace “shark” with “great white shark” if it performs significantly better in Strength.)
I do not consider human an eligible option for this market
Update 2025-12-05 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): Dog will be replaced with Dog (Border Collie) if the suggestion comment receives enough likes.
Update 2025-12-05 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): Strength will be evaluated as absolute strength (not relative to body weight or size).
Update 2025-12-05 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): Extinct animals are eligible for consideration in this market (not limited to only extant animals).
Update 2025-12-06 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): Only animals that have existed on Earth are eligible. Fictional or mythological animals (e.g., from D&D, fantasy) are not eligible. Extinct animals like dinosaurs or dodos are eligible since they once lived on Earth.
Update 2025-12-06 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): Orca will be resolved as invalid (since it was added to the market first, before a duplicate submission).
Update 2025-12-06 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): Orcinus orca dolphin will be resolved as invalid (it is a duplicate of the Orca option).
Update 2025-12-07 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): Strength will be evaluated as mere physical strength (not specialized strengths like bite force alone). Strength is not size-adjusted.
Intelligence will be evaluated as a combination of emotional intelligence, self-awareness, reasoning, and memory.
1,000Strength... is this mere physical strength? And is it strength relative to its own size, or maybe specialized strengths?
Example: the bite of an orca is estimated to be 4-5 stronger than a great white. Does this mean 10 for the orca and 2-3 pts for the great white?
Even more crucial question regarding intelligence. Which type of intelligence will you be rewarding? Emotional? Self-awareness? Reasoning? Memory?
@GazDownright Mere physical strength. Strength are not size adjusted.
"Which type of intelligence will you be rewarding? Emotional? Self-awareness? Reasoning? Memory?"
A combination of all those
@AmmonLam oh you are probably right - n/a if the same. But California's orcas are more aggressive - they hunt whales.
While New Zealand's are not like that
@spiderduckpig slightly smaller I think, but arguably more liked, though columbian mammoth or paleoloxodon are definitely bigger
@spiderduckpig I think it’s dumber and not as liked (after all it was us humans who extincted them)
If we’re including non existent animals the best strategy is to look at dungeons and dragons, find the monster with the highest strength, charisma, and intelligence, and that is the factual undisputed winner.
I think while not specified, existing animals are the spirit of the market, and if we went away from this idea the market becomes “who can name the most powerful DND monster”
But I loaded up on “other” shares just in case
@Magnify no I won’t accept animals that never existed on Earth. Dinosaurs or dodos are okay since they once lived
@CancelTheBorders Somewhat a matter of opinion. Koalas are nasty chlamydia-raddled imbeciles, from my perspective ... but I grant that their public image is not so negative.
Nonetheless, the real top scorers in this category will likely be animals with well known positive traits or behaviors; just looking sort of cute is unlikely to be enough.
@BorisBartlog some koalas are so strong, they can are sometimes be called "drop bears".
They may can kill people