Gaming banned in Greece

photty · 01-09-2002 10:36am #1

I've seen this on a few sites now. It's supposed to cover ALL types of gaming from PC multiplayer to snake on yer mobile. How screwed up is that? Have they gone mental? Then again the greeks did jail a bunch of british plane spotters so anything goes out there i guess.

Mr E · 01-09-2002 12:31pm

Imagine how the greeks feel!

The law translated into english: http://www.gameland.gr/lawenglish.htm

Online petition to reverse it: http://www.petitiononline.com/comp5932/petition.html

ONLY arcade games are affected (some websites seem to be jumping the gun by saying that all games are outlawed).

Read the truth over at Costas' site at gameland (emulation fans may know Costas by the name "Whacker" on EFNet IRC).

http://www.gameland.gr

- Dave.

Pugsley · 01-09-2002 4:43pm

Yup thats pretty fecked up

SOL · 01-09-2002 4:55pm

1. It is prohibited the operation of games of type "b", " c" and "d" of Article 1 (including in personal computers)
placed in public places such as hotels, cafeterias, organization halls and inside any other public or PRIVATE
place.

Is that actually serious or is it a piss take?

BKtje · 01-09-2002 9:23pm

its all game types. Been speaking to greeks on irc etc and they confirmed that its all games.

Theres a thread about this on the politics board.

orangerooster · 01-09-2002 11:05pm

That is a worst nightmare come true right there!my god how the greeks must be feeling

NeoSlicerZ · 01-09-2002 11:47pm

OMFG OMFG OMFG BS BS BS BS BS.

I Pity the greeks , must remember not to go to Greece for vacation untill law is lifted/reversed

adnans · 02-09-2002 1:31am

Dance Dance Revolution will not be televised.

adnans

bugs · 02-09-2002 1:39am

Errrrrrr, no arcade games per say have been banned in greece at all. The only thing being banned is gambling coin-ops, and since most arcades anywhere rely on these for the majority of their income, most will probably close.

That original bit of info was misleading, http://www.retrogames.com has links to relevant info and talks with actual (tm) greek ppl

BKtje · 02-09-2002 3:44am

You sure of your info bugs?
i've spoken to greeks that i know and all of em have confirmed what i asked (and to others).

WTF is there so much confusion about this? i woulda thought this woulda been fairly big news. I know pretty much for a fact that electronic games were banned as they were being used as a cover for gambling.
The only thing im slightly unsure of is wether they were banned in the private homes.

Feel free to proove me wrong. Ill gladly eat my hat or whatever else u want me to munch.

bugs · 02-09-2002 5:07am

Bah, prophet changed his news post on retrogames. You're right (as i just read), they banned arcade games as a result of them being in the same place as gambling machines or some such.

Shoot them all i say

amen · 02-09-2002 8:38am

no offense but did anyone actually read the translated document ?

From this
it appears that games of Type B,C and D are banned.

Type E games which clearly relate to games requiring player skill (computer games) are not banned.

According to notion of the commands of the current law:
a. Mechanical games are those, for whose operation it is necessary to use muscle force.
b. Electrical games are those, for whose operation it is necessary to be dependent on electrical mechanisms.
c. Electromechanical games are those, for whose operation it is necessary to be dependent on electrical
mechanisms AND use muscle force.
d. Electronical games are those, for whose operation it is necessary to be dependent on electrical
mechanisms that also have some calculating (accounting) program.
e. Entertainment "technical" games are those, whose result depends exclusively on the ability and skill of the
player, and its use is solely for entertainment.

The Entertainment "technical" category also includes all card games which had been characterised as
"technical" games, according to the statement of law F.E.K A21.

Article 2
Banning of use or installation of games

1. It is prohibited the operation of games of type "b", " c" and "d" of Article 1 (including in personal computers)
placed in public places such as hotels, cafeterias, organization halls and inside any other public or PRIVATE
place.
2. The Mechanical games, are only permitted to be Entertainment "technical", as defined in the previous Article.
Regarding those games, it is prohibited to make any bets between any persons or to include any financial gain
for any of the players involved. Such bets will attract penalties described in Articles 4 and 5.

Shinji · 02-09-2002 9:40am

amen, you're interpreting it incorrectly - its definition of skill-based games is stuff like table football, not videogames. Several netcafes HAVE been fined for installing videogames on their PCs already - this law very clearly bans videogames. I'm sure it'll be contested, but right now, it's a ban on all forms of interactive electronic entertainment...

photty · 02-09-2002 2:34pm

i'm curious how they intend to police this. I'm sure Greek gamers will still manage to get new titles (perhaps from the likes of amazon?) and play them in their own homes. It seems to be aimed more at cafes and arcades than private individuals. Still if it was my country I'd be fighting for the right to play any damn game I liked. Are the greeks getting protests organised yet? Apart from online petitions that is... imo something offline would probably be more visible.

btw check out the comments on the CSN post about this issue:
http://csnation.counter-strike.net/comments.php?id=5061&type=news&page=1 ...off topic or what

seamus · 02-09-2002 2:47pm

From what I can see, any game played on a computer falls into categories b, c or d.

Well, technically speaking, all computer games fall into at least one of the five categories. What is the definition of 'muscle force'? Everything requires 'muscle force'. How else would you operate a game? Telekinesis? :rolleyes:

We thought we had it bad.......

GreenHell · 03-09-2002 10:26am

Prohibition on games, I'm just waiting for the gang wars to start over this.

SheroN · 03-09-2002 2:36pm

what's their reason for banning games then?

Gordon · 03-09-2002 6:58pm

Greece has so many of these games that you gamble and bet with. It's very popular but not as bad as they make out ffs! Basically the government is worried that they'll produce a nation of gamble-ho-lics. They are very very strong on drugs so maybe fear addiction in some way.

It's quite funny because when the whole debate was happening before the bill was introduced there were some Government officials caught playing on these gambling games. very typical.

Oh, and the games aren't the type that you win money with, it's like Who wants to be a millionaire type things, multi faceted arcade games that have many types of games including poker etc. As far as I remember you just win credit to go further (or peel off more of the digitised womens clothes

)

It won't be upheld unless the police need a bit of cash or they have a grudge against someone or.... they need a bit of cash.

Kix · 04-09-2002 9:38am

Can't remember the source (I think it was Blue's or a link from there) but apparently there are already a few cases pending in the courts. Tourists are advised not to bring Gameboys or to play Snake on their mobiles, seriously...

K

photty · 04-09-2002 10:40am

Another development is that the Greek CPL qualifier for Oslo 2002 has been cancelled...
http://www.ukterrorist.com/comments/view.php?type=n&id=2340

sceptre · 04-09-2002 1:47pm

Originally posted by Gordon
Oh, and the games aren't the type that you win money with, it's like Who wants to be a millionaire type things, multi faceted arcade games that have many types of games including poker etc. As far as I remember you just win credit to go further (or peel off more of the digitised womens clothes )

Probably better than those weird arcade games they have in Japan with the little balls you put in the machine. Very entertaining to watch 100 people at these things (and a noise that just pierces your brain). No bloody idea of what it is or how they play it though.

Shinji · 04-09-2002 2:52pm

It's called Pachinko. It's a very fast way to lose a lot of money

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2065.html

Dont be at yourself · 04-09-2002 6:31pm

Originally posted by photty
Another development is that the Greek CPL qualifier for Oslo 2002 has been cancelled...
http://www.ukterrorist.com/comments/view.php?type=n&id=2340

Ah well, at least some good has come of this.

Thorbar · 05-09-2002 1:22am

My brother who worked in Japan for a few years told me about a woman left her kids in the car with the windows closed on a hot day while she played pachinko for serveral hours. As a result the kids suffocated.

Shinji · 05-09-2002 10:13am

I think the technical term for that kind of thing is "adding chlorine to the gene pool"

LoBo · 05-09-2002 10:37am

From shinji's linked page above you can find this link:

http://sabgames.com/arcade/pachinko.html

Java Pachinko. Try it.. fairly pointless I would say !!

The Gopher · 05-09-2002 10:36pm

All Im bothered about is that I can have a go at the bloody Greeks.
Feckin Greeks,they invented gayness!!!!!:mad:

Firefox · 08-09-2002 1:03am

I see some people have allready been arrested for playing counterstrike allready!!:eek:

Dont be at yourself · 08-09-2002 4:38pm

Microsoft are sending a handful of (un)lucky gamers to Greece as a prize to an Age Of Mythology promotion. And who says the yanks don't get irony?

Genesis · 08-09-2002 9:33pm

Only in greece...........:)

SkepticOne · 12-09-2002 1:05pm

Originally posted by Firefox
I see some people have allready been arrested for playing counterstrike allready!!:eek:

and chess.

According to today's Irish Times, however, the case has been thrown out of court.Greek courts reject government's computer-game ban case
By Jamie Smyth

The two internet-cafe owners and an employee, who won their case, were charged after police found some of their customers playing online chess and the popular multiplayer game Counter-Strike. If found guilty, they could have been sent to jail for three months and faced fines of up to $4,950 each, as well as losing their business licences.

Under Greek law, gambling is only permitted in licensed casinos - although illegal gambling is believed to be widespread.

The new law is being opposed by Greece's gaming community, which accuses the Government of taking the country back to the 1970s when individuals were arrested for playing cards at home.

The article goes on to say that tourists playing gameboys on the beach are unlikely to be arrested.

Meanwhile, the Greek embassy moved to assuage the concerns of Irish holidaymakers by playing down the possibility that their children could be arrested for playing gameboys or other video games.

A spokeswoman for the Greek embassy in the Republic told The Irish Times yesterday that holidaymakers had nothing to fear from using their gameboys on the beach in Greece.

"They definitely won't be arrested if they bring their gameboys on to the beach. Many Greek children have done this," she said.

She said the law had been in force for two months and no one had been arrested for playing video games.

"The intent was to deal with illegal gambling. . . there seems to have been some confusion on the issue," she added.

Incidentally, Greece is the only country in the EU to have worse Internet access than Ireland.

Gaming banned in Greece

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