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Greece Warned Over Games Ban
Thanks to GameSpot for their article discussing the European Commission's formal warning to Greece over the country's attempt to ban all videogames last year. The article summarizes: "The law stirred up anger and disbelief after it resulted in several arrests and the closure of Internet cafes. Although Greece later clarified that the law only prohibits gambling-related games, the EC was 'unsatisfied' with the response and has sent a formal notice requesting more information." According to a lawyer familiar with the case, "The way the Greek law was drafted was an absolute mess. It was drafted so widely that using a PlayStation at home would amount to a breach of the law - which is ridiculous." Would have got away with it too, if it wasn't for that meddling European Commission.
If EU laws are not followed by member states, they can be brought to court and if convicted given very heavy fines.
hello from a country far far away...
i think that you'll understand that since
there is an atlantic ocean between us there
will be some cultural differences, so something
that appears to you totally unreasonable and
crazy may well have a good and valid foundation for me
the law for electronic games was passed because
many people were addicted to slot (vegas style) machine gambling, the law is not directed
towards consumer electronic devices in spirit
but in wording it is and because all our MP's
(MP = like congressmen in you country) are lawyers and MD and know little about technology the result was a monstrous law that allowed police to confiscate
all electronic devices that were publicly available
for rent in shops (e.g. pc of internet-cafes, playstations etc.)
the police is less educated from MP's about technology so they just applied what they read
on paper and did no discrimination between slot machines and innocent ps/2 games
(actually if they went to the full extent of the
law they would raid every house in greece to
get all playstations, they were smart enough not to
do this)
you will ask, even for slot machines, why is
so strict control needed ? because greeks
(hellenes is the corect name btw)) are a bit
passioned people that get carried away and
not always think in logic but many times in
feelings (gambling = lust for money and they
do not consider that actually the odds are against them, so they bet even their houses with
the slot machine owner)
i think you will understand that the government
had to protect less educated people from losing their
homes in gambling
there is also another reason: before that strict law that was issued , there was also another one that only prohibited the slot machines and in general machines that did gambling, well the slot machines owners just covered up the slot machines with innocent games interfaces and covers, with the push of a button they could transform the innocent game into a gambling machine, and they paid bribes to the public servants that supposedly went there to check, they paid them so they did not check the "transform" mechanism
so because of this situtation where the government
could not enforce the limits on gambling (you can gamble here but only in casinos and they supposedly check that you are not poor but that is another
story) and there were thousands of uncontrolled slot machines ripping-off innocent and un-informed people,under directions from the prime minister himself,the strict law was passed (knee-jerk reaction ? maybe)
of course it was so strict that generated an uproar
even among computer users here and web-cafe
owners, so an official "advice" was given to the police not to enforce tha law on web-cafes,
playstations and in general on anything that was just consumer electronics and not gambling device (the issuing of the advice has helped by newspaper
articles with content like "if it is a gambling device the screen might look more like a roulette than a freaking chess board")
one thing you may want to remember from this story
is that free market/choice and ruthless capitalism may well suit the USA because usually rules are kept and fines and penalties go to people that harm the society but european socialism and state protectionism maybe is better for the weak people overhere so they do not lose their homes to slot machines owners and corrupt public servants
(of course now you'll ask and how exactly the state
is going to support the poor people if the employees
are corrupt ? i do not know but i know that in a free
choice market (e.g. of gambling ) the un-educated
people in greece will make always the wrong choice and crooks like casino owners, mass media owners, and mega corp owners will hurry to exploit the bad choice and enslave economically)
with the story you also got an idea of the distortions the distance and stupitidy of
journalists puts betw