Greece bans Videogames

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Nala Lionne

Guest
Heard a net cafe owner got sued for 700,00€ ....

Pretty silly in my opinion, but I doubt it will stay a law.

/shrug
 
O

old.diabolus

Guest
oi all, well what nala and galatea wrote is sad but true, since we dont enjoy fast broadband connections u ppl of northern europe enjoy we rely mostly on internet cafes (or lancenters u name it) and play from there with mainly paying 1e per hour (reasonable price), i was on holidays at my parents home and when i returned thought to enjoy daoc on nice comps with nice 19inch monitors what happens after 10mins is that the owner of the netcafe calls his employee on phone and asks him to tell all customers to leave the place coz police started raids (YES RAIDS) on internetcafes and another 4 internetcafes in the same area had to close aswell to avoid being sued and the owners being arrested.

outcome of this is that every netcafe in Thessaloniki (the city i live 2nd big city in greece) has removed ALL games from their pcs and we are talking bout 50-60 small (10pc) to big (90pc) internetcafes in total, i heard that they arrested an owner sued him 10000 euro for every computer he had in his with games installed netcafe total 700000 EURO FOR GODS SAKE WHERE DO WE LIVE ??

sad part bout 30 real life friends that play daoc on prydwen/alb wont enjoy the fun we had rvring/xping next to each other laughing, to name a few Purificator, Havocas, Teoz, Pbuck, Godess, Dioz, Soz, Phreakz, Vermillon ...

its even illegal to play at home.. so theoretically if somebody would narq and tell cops that i game at home they could rush in and arrest me.

will see tho what will happen coz many ppl are pretty upset about it they even ruined the chance for our fellow cs gamers to participate in the first ever Qualification center for CPL in greece.
 
G

gengi

Guest
It probably won't last

While I feel sorry for the greek gaming Population I do not think this will last. How many British, Scandanavian and other Northern European tourists come to Greece each year ?. How many with kids and therefore how many with gameboys and other handhelds ? For that matter how many adults have handheld games. The first tourist who is arrested for playing his/her gameboy on the beach will raise a huge outcry across Europe.

Money talks and tourists are walking cash machines :D

My opinion anyway

Later

Gengee
 
U

Uncle Sick(tm)

Guest
It proves just one thing, once again and quite clearly:
We like to think that we live in modern, western democracies.

But we certainly do not. I like to call it parliamental tyranny..
 
S

SFXman

Guest
I feel sorry for gamers in greece, but I think this absolutely R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S ! I mean WTF?! I thought this was a joke when I heard about it but the gamespot article made my jaw drop... what the hell were the authorities there thinking. Also fining people all of a sudden for something that was very recently legal is just absurd.
 
T

TedTheDog

Guest
How broad is this law? Is it possesion or use thats illegal?
All versions of windows have come with games since it started. So in theory, all owners of windows in greece are borderline is Use is illegal, and unconvicted criminals if possesion is also a crime.

And you tell me a mobile phone that doesnt have a game on it.
And, now I think about it, MS Excel has several "easter Eggs" in it (all versions I know of anyway) which would probably be covered by this law.

A friend of mine does business with the greeks and has to visit sometimes. He doesnt even know if he can take his laptop and mobile now. And being the modern young businessman that he is, he would cease to function as a modern young businessman without them.

What a country. Locking up plane spotters and game players but letting Dennis Roussous go.
 
B

Belsameth

Guest
I can only laugh about that. talk about making a global as out of yourself :D

bad for the greece gamers tho :(
 
U

Uncle Sick(tm)

Guest
Greek ministery of defence announced to introduce sharp flints and pointy sticks to their forces as part of the country wide "back to the roots" program.

Heck... who wants to play online anyway? :eek6:
 
G

gengi

Guest
OOPS

Looking a bit further into this whole debacle. I t would appear that it is a reaction to the availability of online gambling sites. So what is next ? will the Greek Government start banning access to portals that MAY give access to online gambling sites or is the net to be totally unplugged to stop the Greeks from being tempted ?
Also its because a senior government minister was embarassed when he was videoed playing a gambling game.
Hell hath no fury like a politician embarassed :D

Later

Gengee
 
S

SFXman

Guest
I mean this is just seriously daft. I doubt this can hold... but it is way over the top when you think that if you'd go there as a tourist and have any Nokia phone (all have games) you will get fined or arrested... sheesh.
It's crazy to get 5-75,000 euros fines or 12 months in prison for these violations.
 
I

ivan_tribbiani

Guest
Am i missing something or is this behaviour against Human Rights ?

Internet is a service that you pay your money for to a provider... if police arrest the provider --> i cant get access to Internet on me very own, so no online gambling.... But if cops break into your home, find you online, they arrest you for doing exactly what ? Using a commodity <unless its been classified as illegal by Greek Law> on your premises ?

Please explain me this i would really like to find out a bit more. As it stands im rather confused.
 
S

Slinker

Guest
Ahhh yes Greece , the same people who arrest holidaymakers planespotting for spying , tis a sad case of affairs .
 
N

Nala Lionne

Guest
Originally posted by caelithar
Ahhh yes Greece , the same people who arrest holidaymakers planespotting for spying , tis a sad case of affairs .

Indeed .... I hope they lift this really soon, the more I think about it, the more stupid it is.
 
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Orin Askhammare

Guest
I used to play Planetarion with a few greeks. At least with planetarion the game isn't physically on your system as it's a web based game ;)
 
U

Uncle Sick(tm)

Guest
I played D2 with a couple of greeks... friendly but their dinglish was worse than Korea-speek(tm).

POTAL! POTAL!!!

One of them - Baba, the barbarian (no shit) used to misunderstand everything you said - and went into "Baba sad now" mode... it was priceless :D
 
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old.tRoG

Guest
Originally posted by sickofit...
I played D2 with a couple of greeks... friendly but their dinglish was worse than Korea-speek(tm).

POTAL! POTAL!!!

One of them - Baba, the barbarian (no shit) used to misunderstand everything you said - and went into "Baba sad now" mode... it was priceless :D

*giggles insanely*

GREEK IS TEH STOOPUD!!!11!!1!1!!!!11!!1!!!!11
 
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Tenko

Guest
Frickin Retards!

Sorry, but seriously!!!!

Is this country really in the EC? Do they know what century it is? For christs sake even the chinease haven't banned computer games and they're a totalitarian autocracy!!!

And to think this country was the birth place of fuckin democracy.

Well I have to say that not all europe is as CIVILISED as the rest, this article makes me sick, thinking of the stupidity of a legislature which could pass such a law and a criminal system that could prosecute it. The comments comparing this to the "plane spotting spies" have got it dead right.

The BBC's take on the story

Something so bloody WEIRD as this can make you think twice about even visiting a country. Some countries ban Alchohol, or put the death penalty on drug smugling but I can understand that.

To the Greek's out there I can say one thing. Sort this shit out ffs! My next holiday is spain, Greece is right out of bounds as I couldnt even guess what thing Will get me arrested in your country.

:flame:


ps: Hell, I bet you can play CS in Baghdad!
 
A

Addlcove

Guest
Originally posted by Tenko
ps: Hell, I bet you can play CS in Baghdad!

it´s their tactics training simulator(tm)
 
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SFXman

Guest
Ooo, nice post Tenko :D
That's pretty much what I thought at first but since I don't even live there I am not very pissed at all. Just as long as it doesn't happen anywhere else.
 
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Uncle Sick(tm)

Guest
... I've heard Finland was next. It's called the "Mannerheim Plan of Purity" or something like that...
 
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SFXman

Guest
Well, impossible for this to happen to Finland :p
 
U

Uncle Sick(tm)

Guest
I have proof!!

mannerheim.jpg


I didn't know Yatta was finnish... you never stop learning, eh?
 
U

Uncle Sick(tm)

Guest
I knew you would jump on that... how rare :D
 
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SFXman

Guest
Yes, very rare indeed, I mean I would normally never do such a thing, right?
 
U

Uncle Sick(tm)

Guest
Never! Honest!

Your posts are usually absolutely unpredictable!:D
 
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Troryn

Guest
Originally posted by sickofit...
Never! Honest!

Your posts are usually absolutely unpredictable!:D

:rolleyes:

----------
SFXman(tm)
 
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Uncle Sick(tm)

Guest
Wee! You did an SFX-freestyle-smiley(tm), Troryn.
Congratulations :D
 
S

SFXman

Guest
I remember making a emoticon-only-post once on these boards, but many times in that particular thread. Was my super-spam-patch-day by the way.
 

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