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As in any good market-driven economy stores here in the UAE need to make money. Making something illegal, especially something highly anticipated that they've already ordered tons of, isn't likely to keep them from selling it.
Which is to say, Mike walked into a Dubai video games retailer yesterday and asked a clerk for Grand Theft Auto IV. As he tells it, the man's customer service smile slipped and he seemed to get a little shorter. He went behind the counter and had a spirited, if whispered, discussion with the rest of the staff, then disappeared into the back of the store for a long minute. However, at the end of the day, Mike walked out with the game for the relatively low black-market price of Dh300 (about $82).
Personally, I couldn't care less about the game, but the fact that we can get it here means a lot to me as a believer in not making people give up their lifestyle because they move to a new neighborhood (with the inherent so-long-as-it-doesn't-hurt-others clause). In all fairness (and the reason I can imagine living here for a long time) the UAE government is pretty good about that - we have liquor stores, special sections that carry pork products in some markets, access to (some) Western television, relatively minimal Internet filtering. Now if we could only get that weather thing handled...
Which is to say, Mike walked into a Dubai video games retailer yesterday and asked a clerk for Grand Theft Auto IV. As he tells it, the man's customer service smile slipped and he seemed to get a little shorter. He went behind the counter and had a spirited, if whispered, discussion with the rest of the staff, then disappeared into the back of the store for a long minute. However, at the end of the day, Mike walked out with the game for the relatively low black-market price of Dh300 (about $82).
Personally, I couldn't care less about the game, but the fact that we can get it here means a lot to me as a believer in not making people give up their lifestyle because they move to a new neighborhood (with the inherent so-long-as-it-doesn't-hurt-others clause). In all fairness (and the reason I can imagine living here for a long time) the UAE government is pretty good about that - we have liquor stores, special sections that carry pork products in some markets, access to (some) Western television, relatively minimal Internet filtering. Now if we could only get that weather thing handled...
