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EQ2: Antonia Bayle finalists- Good Luck, Teresa!

I have previously mentioned the contest to find a model to represent EQ2’s main heroine [1], Antonia Bayle. I also think I made my preference for the woman [2]to represent the Queen of Qeynos fairly clear.

Well, the finalists have been announced [3], and Teresa Noreen has made it past the first hurdle. All five of the finalists are definitely attractive women, and several have a reasonable resemblance to Antonia Bayle. Only one of them appears to have actually played the game- Teresa. Teresa also made her own “Antonia” costume (the photo of which seems to have mysteriously disappeared from the Quest for Antonia site, although you can still see it on Teresa’s own site [4]…perhaps others felt it was unfair competition?).

The likelihood of a hardcore EQ2 player ever making it to the finals in a “beauty” contest is incredibly small. This isn’t a slam against EQ2 players, male and female: we as a society just have a skewed idea of how common beauty really is, so to start with out of any 400,000 humans, there might only be 1,000 or so who are “beautiful”. Add to that the lifestyle of most hardcore EQ2 gamers, and that probably cuts the odds by a factor of 10. So, lets say 100 beautiful people play EQ2. How many are female, and how many have any interest in a beauty contest? Yeah…right.

As an aside- when I say “beautiful”, I’m talking pure physical beauty that is obvious in a photograph. Far more people are “beautiful” if you take any time to know them: their thoughts, the way they move, how they smile, the things they do for other people. And lots of people with purely physical beauty are “ugly” if you get to know them.

Teresa is not a hardcore EQ2 gamer, at least I doubt greatly that she is. But the fact that she has tried the game at all, and spent the time to become familiar enough with the Antonia character to create a convincing costume…well, that adds a bunch to my rating of her. I also like the fact that, unlike 3 out of 5 of the finalists, she at least pretends to be more interested in the gaming “culture” and EQ2 than in the chance to be on the cover of Stuff.

The winner will be announced on the weekend of August 12/13. Congratulations on making it to the finals, and good luck, Teresa!