You might not be aware of this, but the ever-autocratic Chinese government has had a system in place since last August preventing individuals from playing online games for more than three consecutive hours.

The system, by law, is installed in every online game in the country. It works by cutting the ability level of a player's online game character by half after he or she has played for more than three consecutive hours. After five consecutive hours of play, the system cuts the ability level of that player's character to the lowest level allowed by the game. Players have to log off for a minimum of five hours before the system resets.

Accoring to the latest iResearch 2005 China Online Game Research Report, over 90% of Chinese MMORPG'ers were aware of this ‘anti-obsession’ system, and nearly half of those polled support the seemingly rather stringent measures in place. However, there is still a small minority (around 14% of players) who have registered multiple accounts to get around the restrictions.

The Chinese government, not happy with destroying it’s citizen’s chances in World of Warcraft, is also planning a campaign over the upcoming summer to keep minors out of Internet cafes.

The Beijing Morning Post reports that Beijing Daxing District's Public Security Bureau has appointed 107 security guards to work in 71 Internet cafes recently, while the Beijing Yanqing Culture Commission has been training Internet cafe staff.

XinhuaNet also reports that the Hefei Department of Education and Hefei Ministry of Culture have begun hiring middle school teachers to serve as Internet cafe supervisors.