Facing up to 20 years in prison, for taking pictures of an island, just like countless other tourists before them, the Czech developers are being charged with espionage. Only because they happen to work on a computer game, a game that portrays Greece as a battlefield for a fictional futuristic conflict between the USA and Iran in the year 2035.

Ivan and Martin are no spies, but passionate community members, dedicated to the game and its experience for the player. Many of us have witnessed Ivan talking in interviews passionately about the progress of ARMA3 and all the new features, also developed by Martin.

It's time to show our support, not only as a community, but as players and concerned citizens, for two developers, who now face a lifetime in prison for an unfortunate misunderstanding.

Yes, because Greece is well known for being the pinnacle of military technology and is totally worthy to send 2 devs over to spy on

Was there not a similar incident a few years ago with the Greeks, when they arrested some plane spotters?

I must admit that I have mixed views on this. Yes, it's silliness gone silly. But it's easy to forget that many countties do not have the same level of freedom as is enjoyed by North Americans (Inc Canadians) and Western Europeans.

You would think that common sense would play a part and some sort of official contact should be made first.

A stupid situation, but somewhat self inflicted .

I think it's more along the lines that if your innocent and truly mean no harm and your going there doing what others have been doing for decades just to take pictures which 200+ others were doing as well at that time, why call? I know hindsight is 20/20 but come on. Who thinks of this kind of crap happening to them in advance?

In all honesty, I think this would be considered harassment and CCP should fix this from happening again. Yeah that's right, Greece needs a patch.

Go sneaking around a US military base taking pictures, and tell me how that works out for you. You'd be lucky if anyone ever saw or heard of you again.

I think it's unfortunate what's happened to them, but they were extremely naive not to consider the seriousness.

I think it's more along the lines that if your innocent and truly mean no harm and your going there doing what others have been doing for decades just to take pictures which 200+ others were doing as well at that time

Who said they were sneaking on a military base?

Go sneaking around a US military base taking pictures, and tell me how that works out for you. You'd be lucky if anyone ever saw or heard of you again.

I think it's unfortunate what's happened to them, but they were extremely naive not to consider the seriousness.

Everyone except those trying to make the captured appear like innocent victims.

Everyone is an awfully big collection there. Do you have news articles in French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Ukrainian, and English that I may view that collaborate with this?

Too late... Been to Fort Benning and taken pictures of various tanks, guns, artillery. Black Hawks in action. Video of excercise demostrations. This was post 9/11 in 2005 I believe so don't give me that crap.

Just google it for yourself instead of making me link thousands or even tens of thousands of pages. Every time i've read about this they mention the military base, and this thread is the first time i've seen it go unmentioned, which is why i brought it up right away.



If you were foreign and spoke no English i don't think you would have had a very good time.

I think Fort Benning even does tours and puts on shows for the public, which you may have seen, so it's not a very good comparison in any regard.

Just google it for yourself instead of making me link thousands or even tens of thousands of pages. Every time i've read about this they mention the military base, and this thread is the first time i've seen it go unmentioned, which is why i brought it up right away.

I'm not doing your dirty work for you. You made the case, you back it up. Oh, and the .org site does mention military buildings and provides several examples of military base footage taken from aircraft.

But if you're seriously trying to argue that all military bases don't mind foreign people randomly showing up to spend hours taking pictures, and this case is somehow unusual, then i think that speaks for itself and no counter argument is needed.

No way of knowing what .org site you're talking about.

But if you're seriously trying to argue that all military bases don't mind foreign people randomly showing up to spend hours taking pictures, and this case is somehow unusual, then i think that speaks for itself and no counter argument is needed.

I mean, out of every group i can think of, the most relaxed and non-paranoid are military groups. I think i'll just stroll right up to a secure facility and try to high five the guards, cause they're too cool to be concerned with security. Security is for losers, really.

He isn't arguing that as that is not what these guys did nor is there any proof that they "randomly showed up and spent hours taking video and video of a foreign military base". They showed up and took pictures of the landscape of the island. They took pictures over looking the airport from a public road on a mountainside. You would think after spending "hours" taking photos and pictures of this "military base", they would have more than 7 pics with the base a few miles off in the distance and some actual video footage. In fact, why isn't there pictures of the base taken from a closer spot when they obviously could get a lot closer?

And i'm pretty sure people researching a FPS game would be more interested in the military side of things than the lovely trees and rocks.

His last point was that you can find pictures of military bases online, so a foreign person spending hours taking pictures of them isn't suspicious, and this was an overreaction. There's many cases of people being arrested for spying on military bases around the globe (yes, that includes America), for doing even less. This is not an overreaction, it's what always happens if you start acting shady around any military installations. Military men don't take chances or give people the benefit of the doubt.

And i'm pretty sure people researching a FPS game would be more interested in the military side of things than the lovely trees and rocks.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not against those captured, and i hope they aren't kept much longer, but lets be real, here: they made a terrible mistake.

Except that Greece features as the playground of two warring nations who aren't Greek, the US and I-ran, and thus the Greek "military" is probably of less interest than the flora and fauna.

From the game plot:

"On the verge of being driven into the sea, NATO command embarks upon a most desperate measure. In the hope of seizing what seems to be a well-guarded military secret, Operation Magnitude is launched.

A small group of Special Forces and Researchers are sent to a Mediterranean island deep behind enemy lines. "

There isn't just a military base on the island by chance. It's one of the reasons they selected it, and it factors heavily into the story.

From the game plot:

"On the verge of being driven into the sea, NATO command embarks upon a most desperate measure. In the hope of seizing what seems to be a well-guarded military secret, Operation Magnitude is launched.

A small group of Special Forces and Researchers are sent to a Mediterranean island deep behind enemy lines. "

There isn't just a military base on the island by chance. It's one of the reasons they selected it, and it factors heavily into the story.

And i'm pretty sure people researching a FPS game would be more interested in the military side of things than the lovely trees and rocks.

Have you played Arma? Saw a picture of the airports runway and I swore I was in Dayz again. Their maps are insanely topographical and precise.