China is limiting the amount of time gamers can spend online in an attempt to cut down the phenomenon of marathon gaming.

According to reports from China's Interfax press agency, from October the government will introduce penalties for those who play an online game for more than three hours. Once the time limit has been reached the characters in the game start to lose their powers and, after five hours, games will flash up a warning message every 15 minutes.

"This timing mechanism can prevent young people from becoming addicted to online games," Xiaowei Kou, deputy director of General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), said during a Beijing press conference.

The majority of China's online publishers have already agreed to participate in what they're calling the ‘Beijing Accord’, a promise to implement the idea in future games releases. Games that will include the code are The Legend of Mir II, The World of Legend, Westward Journey Online, Fantasy Westward Journey Online, World of Warcraft, MU, JX Online, First Myth Online, The Legend of Mir 3G, Lineage II, and Blade Online.

Marathon gaming is becoming an increasing problem across the world, but particularly in Asia. Earlier this month a South Korean man died after spending over 50 hours playing an online game.