Shacknews has word on China’s new mandate for limiting Online Game playtime.

The system will progressively lower a character’s statistics and abilities the longer the player stays online past a three-hour mark. China’s General Administration of Press and Publication has defined playing online games for under three consecutive hours as “healthy,” for three to five hours as “tiring,” and for more than five as “unhealthy.” After three hours, a character’s level is cut in half and drop rates for items is decreased, and after five hours the character’s level is reset to the minimum. The character will not return to normal until the player has signed out for five hours.

The major MMORPGs will adopt to this system. To all you Chinese gamers out there: Good luck with your 3-hour maximum raids into Molten Core. Expect Gold prices to go up!