Greece goes insane

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Ok, would any of the Greek contingent of SP like to comment on this article? Tiamat you there?

http://pc.ign.com/articles/369/369880p1.html

For those of you who are too lazy to click a link that doesn't have an obvious pornographic destination, basically Greece banned all forms of electronic gaming altogether... no more pong.

 

I heard it and it is really sick.. for the people who are too lazy to click:

Greece Government banned all kind of publicelectronic gaming (even snake II on your Nokia and the Gamboy). Reason: illegal gambling? Hmm yeah right.....

btw, haven't seen Tiamat for weeks.

 

What the F... are they thinking?
Games doesnt make you insane and games doesnt hurt you in any way.
This really sucks, poor Tiamat

 

If you read through some of the other articles, you'll see what the deal was/is.

They have gambling casinos still open, that haven't been touched. The deal with the video games was the manufacturers who were actually putting the chips on the PCB's were putting in a regualr Bubble Bobble game, and making a manual switch that flips over to a second set of chips on the same board. This one is just a normal video slot machine with a random number generator, which probably isn't all that random. The idea here is the ones running the gambling machines weren't paying taxes on the income. All the regular casinos pay taxes, the "illegal game" ones didn't.

Anyway, the cops didn't want to have to open every single machine and check the board for a manual switch, and check the service mode for a software switch, so they just outlowed them.

Bottom Line: Not only in America are kickbacks to politicians a necessary aspect of legitimate business, it seems...

 

Who ever made this law is a god damned idiot and deserves to be burned alive!!

And you guys are forgeting about Sirdan, he's from Greece too.

 

Sick man... : I wonder how the kids in Greece are coping with this stupid law?

How shallow ar these officials to think that all games promote gambling. They should ban the casinos instead!! They might as well go back to the stone age then...

 

Do you have any links to other articles on this? I find it hard to believe...

 

I found the same news on slo-tech, but i don't think that you understand Slovenian language...

 

Mollusken: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=5206

And this is the text of the law itself, supposedly: http://www.gameland.gr/lawenglish.htm

 

My condolences to all Greek gamers out there. That really sucks. I am really happy that our people are normal.

 

And I thought Bush was a moron...

WHAT THE **** IS WRONG WITH GREEK LEGISLATORS?!!

PC gamimg itself doesn't promote illegal activities; DAMN, if it was the case, then mankind would have been utterly destroyed a decade ago!!!

You see; evil people dwell amongst everywhere you look, not JUST E-GAMMING. Ask corrupt authorities, dictators, politicians, greedy executives, abusive parents, criminals and the like.

Something is DEFINITELY WRONG in Greece... Believing evil itself pushes hard to PC gaming like a moth to a flame and that electronics is a nice place to hunt it dowm... MY GOD!! GET SOME PSHYCHIATRIST NOW!!!

 

Some motherf*cking greek cop came up to me and took my gameboy saying that cyprus is technikaly a greek colonie so therefor the same rules obide. My parents went to the department and the cop was fired and was forbiden of ever joining the police force again. Unfortunatly the bastard trashed by game boy and my parents wont buy another one for my. I HATE ANTI-GAMERS ANF HOPE THAT THE SH*T HEAD WHO MADE THE LAW WILL REALISE HIS DAMN F*CKING STUPID LAW SUCKS AND WILL TAKE IT AWAY!!!!!

 

Come on everyone!

Surely you can see that this is a very elaborate practical joke!

There is no way a country like Greece - or any other country, with the exception of the previously Taliban governed Afghanistan, that could pass such a law. It's just too stupid to be taken seriously.

Kudos to whoever created this practical joke and managed to spread it this much!

 

Actually Earl Grey, I wouldn't count on it being a practical joke. Here's an article by the New York Times (A vaguely reliable source, I'd say) that mentions this law.

You'll need to register there to see the article, so I'll paste the text in here:

[ September 04, 2002, 21:57: Message edited by: Wildfire ]

 

I officially declare Greece the most fu**ed up country in Europe. They keep on doing stupid things like this. For example, those British tourists who were taking holiday photos and were arrested and put in prison for god knows how long because the Greeks thought that they were SPYING!?

 

Not even the Galatic Empire would stoop to this .

"it's an audacious move coming from a crowd of crooked politicians"

Indeed.

"When the video gamers hear of this -" - Admiral Tagge

"I've just recieved word that the Emperor has banned video games, the last remnants of the gaming industry have been swept away." - Grand Moff Tarkin

"That's impossible. Without gaming how will the Emperor maintain control?" - Admiral Tagge

"Fear, fear of this legislation will keep them in line." - Grand Moff Tarkin

I'm sure it won't last long. They'll have to modify it. Banning all gaming is ridiculous. Imagine Minsc and Boo behind bars .

 

This is a reply to Z-Layrex.I am from Greece and I am offended by your words.First of all, this law is indeed a crap but it is not going to have any effect on pc gamers.It will affect the people who play coin-up games and Internet Cafe stores but at the end it will become obsolete.
You write about some British tourists who have been arrested on spying because they have taken photos of a military base. So where is the ****ed up thing in this? I don't know where you come from (I suppose that you are British), but according to what you write, it seems that in your country it's legal for foreigners to take pictures of military bases.What are the the other ****ed up things that Greece has done?
To end this, Greece sure it is not the prefect country, it does mistakes but this does not allow to an 15 year old child, who has no idea about lot of things, to officialy announce Greece as the most ****ed up country.Read a history book and then talk.

 

That is bizarre. I wonder how they plan on enforcing it.

Earth to Padeen, Earth to Padeen, come in Padeen.

 

Firstly, BOC, stfu N()()B!

Secondly, in almost any other country in Europe, you wouldn't be kept away from your own family and country for taking a few photos of a military base. These guys obviously just found it interesting! No other civilised country in the world would be that stubborn. Maybe if it was somewhere like Area-51 or a NASA testing ground. But a military station in GREECE! It's hardly going to have anything secret. They kept these men in captivity for far too long, any nation with normal leaders would have just destroyed the photos, made sure the guy's intention was inoccent, and then released them, i'm sorry but this is the truth. Greece is very fu**ed up in certain areas of it's government and i don't give a damn if 'my words offend you'.

And you have the nerve to call me a child when you don't even know that you're supposed to put a space after a full-stop.

[Try to be a bit more diplomatic in the future; there's no need to intentionally offend people - BTA]

[ September 05, 2002, 00:34: Message edited by: Blackthorne TA ]

 

Big B, Minsc an Boo behind bars? No need to imagine, just play the begining of BG2 and you will learn that the bars to hold Misc will yet have to be forged.
But I'm still wondering, is it a ban of all types of games, including popular online games as well as simple chess and the games included in windows or is it only against gambling in Internet Cafes as BOC said?
And Z-Layrex, please calm down a bit, there are many things to say of any country, so maybe all countrys are f***ed up. Just wait until some guys in Great Britain react on this by passing similar laws.