xboxtito
09-03-2002, 03:11 PM
Greece bans all forms of gaming
Greece is putting a ban on all
gaming across the country. No longer can the Greek
people play any arcade games, home computer or video
games, or other certain forms of entertainment.
A game of slots at your local bar? Illegal.
PlayStation in your living room? Illegal.
Snaky on your cell phone? Illegal.
Breaking this law results in fines of up to 75,000
Euros (US$7,630) and three months in jail. As for
replacing your controller with cuffs, repeating
offenses earn you at least a year in jail.
If you can read it, a copy of the official law, passed
into effect only a few days ago, is available online
here: http://www.gameland.gr/pics/law.gif
An English translation (by Grand Master Peter) was
posted online: http://www.gameland.gr/lawenglish.htm
Thanks to the English translation, these are the
different categories gaming falls under:
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.
"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.
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."
Across Greece, there's over 2,000 different arcades
which will be forced to shut down, but that's just the
tip of the ice berg. With all gaming, everywhere being
banned, it's hard to imagine just what has happened,
but there you have it.
Thanks to the support of websites such as
http://www.gameland.gr there's something we can do
however, in the hope of changing the law.
1) Petition
Firstly there's an online petition, and people who
know me will know I don't believe in these things. But
never the less, it only takes a minute to sign and
this is a people's freedom to entertainment at stake.
http://www.petitiononline.com/comp5932/petition.html
2) Speak Your Mind
Secondly, you can post your thoughts straight to the
government at:
http://www.parliament.gr/english/contact/default.htm
The name of the law to use as a reference is
"Proedriko Diatagma 174, Teyxos 1, 30 July 2002
'Apagoreush Paigniwn'"
3) Legal Advice
Finally if your a lawyer and have some legal advice,
please email whacker@esn.gr with a subject line of
"Legal advice".
XE would like to give a special thanks to Graham Parker for making this article happen. Some of you may remember Graham as the best webmaster that ever was on Sega2000.net, which is where I got my start, thanks Graham for everything!
thats f**k up Sh**
Greece is putting a ban on all
gaming across the country. No longer can the Greek
people play any arcade games, home computer or video
games, or other certain forms of entertainment.
A game of slots at your local bar? Illegal.
PlayStation in your living room? Illegal.
Snaky on your cell phone? Illegal.
Breaking this law results in fines of up to 75,000
Euros (US$7,630) and three months in jail. As for
replacing your controller with cuffs, repeating
offenses earn you at least a year in jail.
If you can read it, a copy of the official law, passed
into effect only a few days ago, is available online
here: http://www.gameland.gr/pics/law.gif
An English translation (by Grand Master Peter) was
posted online: http://www.gameland.gr/lawenglish.htm
Thanks to the English translation, these are the
different categories gaming falls under:
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.
"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.
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."
Across Greece, there's over 2,000 different arcades
which will be forced to shut down, but that's just the
tip of the ice berg. With all gaming, everywhere being
banned, it's hard to imagine just what has happened,
but there you have it.
Thanks to the support of websites such as
http://www.gameland.gr there's something we can do
however, in the hope of changing the law.
1) Petition
Firstly there's an online petition, and people who
know me will know I don't believe in these things. But
never the less, it only takes a minute to sign and
this is a people's freedom to entertainment at stake.
http://www.petitiononline.com/comp5932/petition.html
2) Speak Your Mind
Secondly, you can post your thoughts straight to the
government at:
http://www.parliament.gr/english/contact/default.htm
The name of the law to use as a reference is
"Proedriko Diatagma 174, Teyxos 1, 30 July 2002
'Apagoreush Paigniwn'"
3) Legal Advice
Finally if your a lawyer and have some legal advice,
please email whacker@esn.gr with a subject line of
"Legal advice".
XE would like to give a special thanks to Graham Parker for making this article happen. Some of you may remember Graham as the best webmaster that ever was on Sega2000.net, which is where I got my start, thanks Graham for everything!
thats f**k up Sh**