anyone playing ANY kind of technological game faces a hefty fine of 10,000 to 250,000 euros, and jail time of 1 to 12 months in greece, forgeners included!
Absolutly insane!
WTF??.. that’s crazy :o
I guess some politician was drinking way to much coffee and playing PS2 at the same time, however, in the process of losing the game badly, they discovered something totally different then just throwing the controller.
Look out Skontar! Better stash Gameblender away at the bottom of the Adriatic.
How bad!!! :o we can’t let those things happen.now is the videogames…then what? really insane.
Its unenforceable… Eventually it will fall through, I think
its just being enforced to scare the gamblers… But its unenforceable…
omg…gaming is what started me in art…it let me advace in my imagination and creativity! how could they destroy that for all of those people!
:o Just when you thought you’d heard it all.
I’d say it’s a fair guess the majority of the people who voted for it were oldish (I don’t really mean it as an age group, more a state of mind ;)) men whose knowledge of computers stretch about as far as inserting a row in excel.
People can make some strange decisions when it’s concerning something they don’t really care for in the first place 
I agree with imgranpaboy that a game can be art just as much as a film or a picture. (At least that’s how I read it ;))
If they had to ban something it should be something unimaginative and suffocating like… like… 
microsoft software.
- pofo
Good point; my mom is 75 years old, and she likes playing solitaire and card games on my spare computer, but still does traditional things like knit. I think you are dealing with people who see computers as something that should be put in a pile and burned. I can see preserving old ways and culture, but you can preserve culture through education.
so now all videogames and DVD’s is illegal in all Europe ?
when EU court decides to help out the Greece ?
wonder how long this will go, then they must bann even movies,
theathres , cause it is all the same, to enjoy ppl,
i mean…movies have sometimes very dark storys…and such
I even read DVD coule be illegal ! ridiculous !! :o
I’m truly not suprised. As an American I’ve noticed the trend of people allowing government to take those freedoms away. I think far too many have taken a “me” attitude. Many think so long as it’s not a freedom they wish to exercise, it’s not important. A government wants to take freedoms from one small community, and the rest of the population couldn’t care less. The government then targets another community, and another, and another. If they take freedoms away from larger communities, they do it bit by bit. A little bit here, a little bit there.
Just as an example, take US gun control. Little bit by little bit. Califorinia one year required owners of a particular type of assault rifle. Those few who had those weapons complied, no one else cared. The next year they banned the weapon, and required all those who had them to turn them in. Of course, since they had a list, they knew exatly who to arrest once the turn-in deadline was up. But, it was still such a small community affected, that no one really cared. They can’t get enough backing to take away all guns, but they can get them one model at a time. Also, that was not a weapon known to be used in crime. Most who owned them were responsible law-abiding citizens (which of course made it much easier for the government to take them). I do have to note that I don’t think any gun control legislation is made to stop or slow crime. They’re ineffective and uninforced. The legislation only affects those who abide by the rules, and doesn’t affect criminals at all. The point is to eventually say, “See… we’ve passed all this legislation, and nothing works. We have to completely ban guns, it’s the only option left.”
Want a non-gun issue? Some places have water shortages, and because we got to conserve water, I can’t have a toilet with a decent flush. Although I do live in Hawaii now, and there’s good reason for water conservation here, I’m mostly ticked that I can’t buy a decent toilet back home, in south Alabama. We’ve got so much water at home that it’s near-impossible to dig into the ground for a swimming pool, but we’re not allowed to use a decent amount of water when flushing? Give me a break.
How about this… Hawaii requires annual safety checks for automobiles. I drive a Suzuki Samurai. If you don’t know what that is, it’s similar to a jeep, but smaller. It failed because the driver side door handle is broken. First, how does that affect the safety of those on the road with me? Then I find out that the safety check is partially for my safety… if I’m in an accident, how would people get me out? Well… it’s my risk to take, but c’mon, it’s a SAMURAI! If I were unconsious it’d probably be easier to pull me out the back than through the door. If not, the inside door handle works. And what if the driver locks the door? My mother’s minivan doors automatically lock once you reach 15mph… it’s a safety feature to make sure that if you forgot to lock it up, it locks it for you so kids can’t open the door and fall out. Should that be illegal?
Here’s another one… income tax withholdings. You know the Cato Institute decided on a unique way of paying their employees. They set up two windows. At the first window, the employees recieved their gross pay. At the second, they paid back their tax withholdings. The purpose was so that people realised exactly how much they were really being paid, and exactly how much of that they had to pay back to the government. Despite the fact that all the money got to the government properly, the IRS shut it down. They weren’t allowed to pay their employees their full wage, and have the employees pay the piper themselves… the employer had to do it for them.
How about this… Airlines post Sept. 11. An airline pilot was stopped by security for carrying some nail clippers. Frustrated he said something to the effect of, “I’m the pilot, if I wanted to crash the plane, I wouldn’t need a weapon to do it!” The poor guy got in trouble, and may have even been fired or charged with a crime. As for weapons on planes. Most airline pilots are former military, and well versed in gun use. Opponents of allowing packin’ pilots say that they should be focused on flying the plane, not shooting a gun. Pilots are no longer allowed to open the cockpit door and leave during an altercation, so if the pilot were in the position to use a gun, whether he had one or not, stopping the guy who just busted down the door should be the top priority, because if not, the pilot won’t be flying the plane much longer anyway.
How about this… It is illegal for US citizens to have contact with extraterrestrials. Huh? I’d love to meet the person who authored that choice peice of legislation.
I could keep going, but I’d be at it forever, lol. If anyone wasn’t worried about loss of freedoms until this Greek law came about, where you been? 
Imp
What about that town in which the cops created a database of people they think might commit crimes in the future? There were people who had nothing on their record, but they fit the profile of someone who might become a criminal. If I remember right, they even posted their photos and information.
Why is it that through freedom, special interest groups have gotten the ability to threaten freedom? There seems to be a trend with the current freedom, and that’s willful opression. All these little groups here and there, get this and that law passed. Then here in the near future, when (if) people step back and look. All these little laws here and there will have created our own prison. Not because they were created for the good of the population, but for the good of that little group at the time.
What about the group in california trying to ban toy guns?
Or PETA trying to make fishing illegal?
Or the people trying to make it illegal for someone to spank their kids?
Or what about them wanting not only to use security cameras, but also record people’s conversations in public?
I really have a problem with how the politicians try and ‘sneak’ the legislation past the people by hiding it. One thing that I try and keep up on, but is sometimes hard to follow, is all the proposed and current laws concerning the internet and networks in general. They have come up with legislation, that basically forms pretty clever trap, for them to use at their disposal.
How about this… It is illegal for US citizens to have contact with extraterrestrials. Huh? I’d love to meet the person who authored that choice peice of legislation.
LOL 
that comment made me laugh a bit 
Hello!!!
Such a law exists allright, but I think the article is a bit exaggerated.
The law is only for internet caffes and video game shops and it’s only to prevent illegal gambling…
It all started when a stupid reporter started a “crusade” to stop illegal gambling in Greece. The truth is that there was a huge problem a few months ago. A lot of people had lost fortunes, because of this… and some tried to kill themselves for losing all their money… Even some politicians were found involved in the whole illegal gambling industry!!! But I don’t really know if the dimensions of the problem was indeed that huge. I guess some reporters would do anything for publicity.
Anyway, the government got really annoyed by the whole fuss and passed that law!!!
But, surely it affects only internet caffes. You don’t go to jail for owning a gameBoy console!!! Police officers are stupid, but they are not that stupid. What would they do??? Arest all the kids???
skontar.
when EU court decides to help out the Greece ?
ztonzy, EU court is allready helping Greece!!!
It’s that Greek government has this flexibility to interpret EU laws they way they suit them, or ignore them when it is affordable!!! Sometimes paying fines to European Union for breaking EU laws, is cheaper than enforcing those laws.
And if those laws were enforced, Greek people would have a descent life…
The question should be:
When EU court will decide to save Greek people from their government!!!
Thanks,
skontar.[/quote]
Why’s everyone so upset about gambling anyway?
Imp
I guess that means if the SETI program is a succsess then those people will have to answer to the law! 
As far as the ban on electronic games in Greece goes it’s about as enforcable as prohibition was in the US.
No one is upset about gambling!!!
Only governments are… specially when it is illegal…
Governments are losing money from illegal gambling… You see they want a share out of the profits!!!
There is a lot of “legal” gambling here in Greece, only government is controlling it (and making profits out of it!!!)!!!
skontar.
Gambling is considered like smoke, alchool, drugs etc a ‘vice’ hence is upsetting to ‘proper-thinkers’
Fair gambling (if you win you are paid in reason of the inverse of the probability than you had won) is … well… fair, and non-existent.
Among the fairest there is the ‘roulette’ where, if you get the right number, you are paid 36 times what you had bet… but there are 37 numbers! so probability is 1/37 and this slight difference is all the reason why the hall makes money This fairness of the roulette holds also on other bets.
All other gambling games I know are less fair (I mean those based on chance, not on ability (poker, black jack, cards in general are more based on skill than chanche))
Slot-machines are still quite fair, because you can extimate probabilities and understand if what you might won is fair.
Electonic equipment like those in Greece (and Italy too 
) are higly unfair and cannot be checked because probabilities are in hidden in the ROM.
So…
Stefano
rofl… just had the funniest image run through my head… rather than crack dealers on the streets, game dealers… passing out GameBoys getting little kids hooked… the kids start stealing to buy more game carts… “I need my fix!!”
Lol… of course, I never got into game boxes, or the little GameBoys. Had a Sony GameGear once, and wondered why it never really took off, with it being color, and GB, being monochrome. I think a friend borrowed it and never returned it. Didn’t know it for a year, until I was facing a 36 hour airline journey (36 total, only 24 hours in the air)… still didn’t bother me, just took a few books instead.
Imp
“Game dealers”
It’ll happen!