The Chinese government has been taking the issue of online addiction seriously by introducing new legislation to help combat gaming and online addiction.

The new law, which comes into effect on April 15, requires anti-addiction software to be installed on the country's massively multi-player online games with their 31.12 million users.

China is experiencing problems with children playing truant from school to play online, and the law comes as no surprise in a country which already has an uneasy relationship with the freedom of the internet.

The new system will force all gamers to register using real names and identity card numbers to prove their age, and players under 18 will be allowed to play for up to 3 hours per day.

MMOs will give full points for play during this period, after which, from 3 to 5 hours of play, points in the games will be halved. After 5 hours, warning messages will flash every 15 minutes and points get reset to zero if the warnings are ignored.

Games which have not included the system by July 16 will be shut down.

>> Link - Official Site/Chinese Government
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