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Subject: Thank God we don't live in Greece. This just sucks! read the ho...
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Gamers face jail in Greece


Rupert Goodwins and Matt Loney
ZDNet UK
September 03, 2002, 12:55 GMT


Tell us your opinion

A new law passed in Greece means that anybody carrying an electronic game - even if it is just on a mobile phone - could face a hefty fine or lengthy jail sentence


Thousands of British tourists in Greece are unknowingly facing heavy fines or long terms in prison for owning mobile phones or portable video games. The Greek government has banned all electronic games across Greece, including those in home computers, Game Boy-style portable consoles, and on mobile phones.



Law Number 3037, enacted at the end of July, explicitly forbids electronic games with 'electronic mechanisms and software' from public and private places, and people have already been fined tens of thousands of euros for playing or owning games.

Internet cafes are allowed to continue to operate, providing all gaming is prohibited: if a client is found to be running any sort of game, including online chess, the café owner will be fined and the place closed. The law applies equally to visitors from abroad: "If you know these things are banned, you should not bring them in," said the commercial attaché at the Greek Embassy in London -- who declined to give her name.

The law was passed to prevent illegal gambling. According to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, "The police will be responsible for catching offenders, who will face fines of 5,000 to 75,000 euros and imprisonment of one to 12 months. The blanket ban was decided in February after the government admitted it was incapable of distinguishing innocuous video games from illegal gambling machines." One online report said that even watching a film on DVD -- many of which contain promotional games linked to the movie -- had resulted in an arrest and a 10,000-euro fine.

The Greek gaming community has reacted with a mixture of shock, disbelief and anger. One site, www.gameland.gr, has opened a petition and a news service on the ban, as well as providing English translations of the law and messages of support from around the world.

A test case is to come before the Greek courts next week, and the Greek gaming community is already planning protests in the event that the defendant is convicted.

"We are trying to organise a protest against this law," said Petros Tipis of Thessaloniki-based gaming company Reload Entertainment, which has had to cancel a gaming tournament that was to be held this week.

If the prosecution of the defendant next week is successful, said Tipis, the Greek gaming industry will take the case to the European Court.

In the meantime, Tipis told ZDNet UK, a lot of people in Greece are very worried about the new law. "They are taking it very seriously," he said. "It even affects the games that come with Windows. This law isn't the right one," he added. "It is unfair. It was introduced too quickly."

Reload's tournament, which was to be held on 6 September, was a qualifier for the CPL Oslo 2002 gaming tournament. "Now we are trying not to lose the two slots we were given from CPL for the tournament," said Tipis. "This was the first time for a qualifier (for this tournament) in Greece."


  • 12.02.2004 9:57 AM PDT
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A Greek law banning all electronic games in public has been declared unconstitutional by a court that has dismissed two separate cases against three people charged under the law.
The decision by the Thessaloniki court could eventually see the law repealed, according to reports.

Prior to Tuesday's decision, computer game players and Internet cafes owners in Greece said they would fight against the law. According to the law's opponents, it was conceived to address illicit gambling but was written so broadly that playing any electronic game could be considered illegal.

Indeed, the three people released Tuesday operated or worked at Internet cafes, and, according to a Greek news Web site, the police officers who searched the cafes testified that they did not observe any Internet gambling going on--just customers playing chess and other non-gambling games over the Internet.

A draft of the bill, which was brought before parliament at the end of May, stated clearly that all games supported by electrical, electromechanical and software means were banned from public places, according to Nikos Kakayanis, managing director of a string of Internet cafes called The Web. A board member of The Web, Christos Iordanidis, was among those facing charges on Tuesday.

When the bill was discussed again in July, said Kakayanis, "a member of the opposition party expressed concern that it would only be a matter of time before the owners of illegal gambling machines moved whatever machines they were using for gambling (coin-ops, PCs, consoles) from their stores in private places." The law was modified to include every private place as well, said Kakayanis.

"Nobody from the members of the parliament realized or could foresee the effects that this would have for PC games, Internet games and game consoles, simply because they are not familiar with that side of technology," he added. The bill became law on 30 July.

"The Greek government banned computer and console games in an attempt to stop illegal gambling," said Kakayanis. "The point is that although the government admitted that it is a tough measure they could not realise that banning computer games and consoles would be a major issue."

  • 12.02.2004 10:08 AM PDT
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Greece... that is most idiotic, thing I've seen for a long time, and do they have any reasons backing this? or did I just not read enough?

  • 12.02.2004 11:03 AM PDT
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*Sigh* you should have just linked it...

  • 12.02.2004 11:11 AM PDT
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Read the only reply to the article (dated 09/03/02), written almost a year later on 10/25/03 by Spamwall:
TalkBack 1 of 1:

Invidious lies
Oh boy... What kind of bs is this?

Such a law exists, but -at least in practice- it affects only coin-ops. Computer games and game machines are being sold normally, and you sure can play games at Internet cafes. Don't know if in theory it's illegal to own a game boy... But if it were, they wouldn't be available at shops, would they?
Far as that law is concerned, it was voted to fight illegal gambling: many shops had coin-ops with switches that would turn a bubble-bobble game in a slot machine. Since it was almost impossible to check all those machines, the government just made all coin-ops illegal. Personally, can’t say I find this reaction the most elegant – or constitutional for the matter, but keep in mind that many adults well as minors were gambling and losing huge amounts in those machines.

As usual, journalists have to write something impressive. Wow... All games banned, gamers go to jail...
Just study the case before you go on and publish something so imaginary and invidious for a change.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-956357.html was the original story.
What a wonderful example of yellow journalism!

Take care,
Cavmn

  • 12.02.2004 11:22 AM PDT
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Could you sum it up? I've got a sinus headache so it's hard to read that.

  • 12.02.2004 11:26 AM PDT
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Could you sum it up?
Someone cut and pasted a sensationalist news story from over two years ago here.
It reported that in Greece it was now illegal to have any kind of electronic gaming device, and that having possession same could result in heavy fines or jail time.

What the article didn't say was that they aren't enforcing it against normal games, only against people & establishments that were using electronic games as gambling devices, which was becoming a major problem for the Greek police to go after.

Basically the law was poorly written, but it enables the cops to go after bars & illegal casinos using electronic gambling machines, so they know it sucks but are keeping it for now because a law with a narrower definition of electronic game devices could be circumvented by criminals. People playing Gameboys, Halo2, etc, have nothing to fear as long as they aren't playing for money.

Take care,
Cavmn

  • 12.02.2004 11:33 AM PDT
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to shorten what Cavmn said:

games are illegal in Greece. you will be fined and/or jailed for owning ANY electronic game. period. no questions asked.

  • 12.02.2004 1:56 PM PDT
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Get all the gamers out of Greece... then you can nuke them all you want!

  • 12.02.2004 2:34 PM PDT

Devil is Double is Deuce and Joker always trumps Deuce.

That is such mother -blam!- bull-blam!-. Glad I don't live in Greece.

  • 12.02.2004 2:41 PM PDT
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Glad I live where I live. I feel sorry for anyone there cept the idiots that made that law and passed it.

  • 12.02.2004 2:56 PM PDT
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Idiots. can't even tell gambling from video games. I'm surprised their country hasn't been invaded yet the way they're running it.

Why don't those poor gamers move somewhere else? Greece sucks. All it has are ancient ruins and anti-U.S protests.

  • 12.02.2004 3:36 PM PDT
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Posted by: agent404
Idiots. can't even tell gambling from video games. I'm surprised their country hasn't been invaded yet the way they're running it.

Why don't those poor gamers move somewhere else? Greece sucks. All it has are ancient ruins and anti-U.S protests.


I think Mussolini did. Someone from the axis in WW2..

  • 12.02.2004 3:40 PM PDT
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*All of the above is the opinion of the user: WartHogRacerman3. Complaints can be forwarded to his secretary.

I own an HDTV [12/30/07]

That law is SO ment to be broken

  • 12.02.2004 3:55 PM PDT
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Dude that law sucks what the heck is wrong with those people.

  • 12.03.2004 8:04 AM PDT
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You were fine Recon =). Though it seems my points were still missed by many readers. It is sad to see that so many can read a post and then seem to skim or ignore any replies that are more than one paragraph. /sigh I'll try again without the lengthy explanations.

Basically, I had two points.
1. This is a yellow journalism article. If you don't know what that is, try Dictionary.com.

2. If you are a casual/hardcore gamer in Greece, you have nothing to fear UNLESS YOU ARE GAMBLING. [color=red]The law is on the books, but only being enforced against gamblers.[/color]

Take care,
Cavmn

PS: Recon, is quoting the talkback reply also illegal? I thought that would be alright.

Take care,
Cavmn

[Edited on 12/3/2004 1:27:59 PM]

  • 12.03.2004 1:27 PM PDT