O, Helena, the seat of democracy.Dozens if not hundreds of sites are already spreading the news of the incredibly misguided and stupid Greek law 3037 which, in an attempt to curtail illegal gambling, puts a blanket ban on any type of electronic game from PC games to handhelds, even some cellular phones, both for public or private use. This law also extends to tourists, who might have foolishly brought some little handheld electronic game with them. Punishment runs up to twelve months in jail and up to $75,000 (US).
The Greek paper Kathimerini reports, “The blanket ban was decided in February after the government admitted it was incapable of distinguishing innocuous video games from illegal gambling machines.” But of course. Aristotle himself would find such logic irrefutable. And if they need to combat reckless driving, I assume they’ll just start arresting anyone with a car.
Thank Zeus, the Greek gaming community is putting up a fight. The Gameland.gr website was keeping track of the story, as well as a planned protest over the arrest of two Internet café owners. The interest in the story has overwhelmed their server, but the site has several mirrors, two of which can be viewed here or here.
Maybe the lawmakers need to soak their heads in Windex.
