Greece and Games?

It's real and has been reported at a number of professional sites. I've been hearing about it at my gaming forums for the past few days. Pretty absurd. I doubt it will stand the courts coming up, and even if it somehow does, it's so outrageous and far-reatching that there's no way they could properly enforce a ban. I can just imagine outlaws on the streets selling Prophecy GBA out of the trunks of cars and in dark alleys. Or perhaps the Greek government could fan out thousands of paramilitaries at all the ports and borders to stop the illegal import of ChessMaster 9000 and The Sims.
 
I can't believe they voted this law in the first place. They could have forbidden music as well, and sports, it wouldn't be less stupid. Man what have Greece become to vote such totalitarian laws ?
 
Banning music wouldn't exactly do anything about on-line gambling. And might I remind everyone that not long ago, a US judge found that video games were not protected under the first amendment (the defense didn't help much with the really, really poor selection of games that they provided to the judge - if you're going to argue something like that, use Torment, or similar CRPGs, not shoot-em-up action games)?
Personally, I know absolutely nothing about Greek law or any protected rights they have there, so I have no idea what the odds are of the law being upheld (anyone know anything about this angle?). What I will say is that its incredibly stupid, and even if the law is upheld, I'd be surprised if it stayed on the books for very long.
Just wait until the lawmakers go home and tell their kids/grandkids that PS2s are illegal.
 
I bet a whole dollar that the guv-ment in Greece is Liberal/Socialist.

Anybody got any idea where to check that out?

AND, let this be a lesson to anyone who looks to the guv-ment to take care of them.
 
Originally posted by Ripper
If Iraq attacked Turkey from the rear, would Greece help?
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if anyone attacked turkey, both greece and if it could armenia would aid them in destroying the turks...and i would donate to such a worthy cause
 
Originally posted by Ripper
I bet a whole dollar that the guv-ment in Greece is Liberal/Socialist.

Anybody got any idea where to check that out?

AND, let this be a lesson to anyone who looks to the guv-ment to take care of them.
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well to be fair the law was intended to only deal with gambling but the wording made it so that it deals with everything. Furthermore a liberal government (meaning left of center) tends to preserve and protect what are termed "essential liberties" more than a conservative government does since a conservative government is more concerned with enforcing morality and legislating it. (just to tell you that your statement about the government is baseless and a simple strawman attack)
 
Originally posted by Delta_Strife
Hmmm this sounds like something a communist goverment would do but Greece is a democracy what is going on?
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Democracies do stupid things in the name of morality and safety and such...the US made alcohol illegal in the 20's and prostitution and gambling remain illegal in most areas (I think the only place where both are legal is Nevada)

Other than that, there is some stupid stuff in some of the southern states where certain sexual things are illegal. I think in Alabama oral sex is illegal (once again, one of those things that's near impossible to enforce).
 
Liberals don't believe in "protecting people from themselves." Liberalism is very different from socialism though, so don't jump on the Red Scare bandwagon.

I got the impression that this ban was only intended for public places like pubs and hotels? Maybe that was the intention, but it just seems to be banning everything because the people who wrote it are in their 70s and completely clueless?

Also, to the Off-topic zone!
 
I just thought I'd jump in here real quick and bang my head against a brick wall for two seconds.

Today's skewed terminology tends to mis-label that which is "liberal" and that which is "conservative." What is today called "conservatism" (at least in the USA) far more closely resembles traditional liberalism than what the word is now assigned to.

The mis-representation of these two concepts began when FDR first ran for president as a "liberal candidate," truly flabbergasting his opponent (whose name escapes me at the moment) who quite accurately saw himself as a liberal. The decay moved forward from there to what we have in the present day, where the positive connotation that goes along with the term "liberal" is attached to what is traditionall a set of conservative viewpoints.

This is a situation which proves to be exceedingly frustrating to those who are now called conservatives, because they don't see themselves as such.

That is all. You may all return to your rant about Greece or whatever with the games thing law about the not playing whatever some stuff like that.
 
This is just another case of the media ranting about something which doesn't really exist: they've jumped from 'this is worded so that it could mean' to 'this does and must mean!'. You can still play video games in Greece. You can't gamble with them in bars. Boo-hoo.
 
Originally posted by Frosty
I just thought I'd jump in here real quick and bang my head against a brick wall for two seconds.

Today's skewed terminology tends to mis-label that which is "liberal" and that which is "conservative." What is today called "conservatism" (at least in the USA) far more closely resembles traditional liberalism than what the word is now assigned to.

The mis-representation of these two concepts began when FDR first ran for president as a "liberal candidate," truly flabbergasting his opponent (whose name escapes me at the moment) who quite accurately saw himself as a liberal. The decay moved forward from there to what we have in the present day, where the positive connotation that goes along with the term "liberal" is attached to what is traditionall a set of conservative viewpoints.

This is a situation which proves to be exceedingly frustrating to those who are now called conservatives, because they don't see themselves as such.

That is all. You may all return to your rant about Greece or whatever with the games thing law about the not playing whatever some stuff like that.
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well liberalism is synominis with leftism, which supports social welfare programs, pro labor rather than pro buisiness policies, as well as defending people's rights.

conservatism has 2 meaning today: 1. typified by the libretarians who believe in a strict interpretation of the consitution and thus also support individual freedoms but do not protect people from such things as buisnesses (but are neutral not pro buis or pro labor) or provide social welfare programs. 2. Republican party: pro-buisiness, against social welfare, fewer indivdual freedoms in preference for "security", "stability", and the always popular "morality"

i was refering to the 2nd
 
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
This is just another case of the media ranting about something which doesn't really exist: they've jumped from 'this is worded so that it could mean' to 'this does and must mean!'. You can still play video games in Greece. You can't gamble with them in bars. Boo-hoo.
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Originally posted by KrisV
I got the impression that this ban was only intended for public places like pubs and hotels? Maybe that was the intention, but it just seems to be banning everything because the people who wrote it are in their 70s and completely clueless?
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Maybe.. but the quotes I've highlighted here seems to me a little bit more serious than hype.. "Greek Law Number 3037, enacted at the end of July, explicitly forbids electronic games with "electronic mechanisms and software" from public and private places, and people have already been fined tens of thousands of dollars for playing or owning games." "Internet cafes will be allowed to continue to operate, providing no games-playing takes place. If a customer is found to be running any sort of game, including online chess, the cafe owner will be fined and the place closed." Explicitly forbidding game software in private places and shutting down internet cafes running any sort of game seem to go further than banning video gambling in casinos. :(
 
I looked at the thread title and thought Olympics (I first saw it in the OT Zone). After reading the first few posts, I thought, "This would be perfect April Fools' material". Unfortunately, truth is often stranger than fiction. I cannot believe such a law will survive without challenge. Whereas I can understand prohibition of alcohol and gambling (I live in a country where both are controlled, but allowed), since they both can have detrimental effects to people around participants (violence, bankruptcy, etc), gaming is purely for entertainment. They don't harm unless in extreme circumstances (massacres), and even then, it's debatable as to whether games are truly a factor.
 
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