Being glued to a mobile phone or computer screen and gaming late into the night will soon be a thing of the past for minors in China.

A new regulation, or "notice," issued by the country's State Press and Publication Administration has sets out strict guidelines for playing video games for minors, those under 18 years of age, with the aim of combating video game addiction and other health concerns. According to government officials, video game addiction has been a growing problem with minors, and is affecting their physical and mental health. This comes despite China's rapidly growing video game market.

Six measures were proposed within the notice, including real name registration with online game accounts, time restrictions on gaming, and capped limits on how much these youngsters can spend on in-game content such as skins, loot-boxes and add-ons.

The notice stipulates that minors will not be able to play games between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., placing the onus on both gaming companies and parents or guardians. Children under the age of eight will also be prohibited from making in-game purchases, whereas those between the ages of eight and 16, will have a monthly limit of 400 yuan.

Though some may be quick to point out that this could have a significant impact on China's gaming industry, both parents and video game companies are welcoming the new effort.

For Adam Turnbull, a Canadian expatriate father of two, who has been in China for nearly two decades and worked with STEM/STEAM education as an innovator, believes these measures are a step in the right direction.

"Well I do think that there needs to be some kind of awareness for the issue of video game addiction and wasting a lot of time. Because of course for kids, in my opinion as a parent, we have a lot of challenges, especially here in China, my son goes to grade one in a public school, every evening he's got at least an hour of homework, so if we have to fight with him to get his homework done, as opposed to playing video games, that's a challenge that we have."

With the remaining measures mostly placing the responsibility on video game companies and developers, Turnbull think this is the right move.

"I think that companies, having this restriction, as opposed to the user, the gamer, it makes a lot of sense in China because I think there is… it's a new phenomenon, especially with accessibility with devices such as mobile phones, with having gaming in your hands at all times. China has a challenge to make sure that there is a balance, and there has to be some kind of accountability to the companies that are profiting from having everyone have video games in their pockets 24/7."

Shenzhen-based tech giant Tencent is one China's most well-known companies, arguably leading the way in all-things gaming. For them, preventing video game addiction and other health hazards has been an undertaking long before the recent notice was released. Three years ago they established an in-house team, developing solutions on what healthy gaming should be like.

'I think it's good news for this industry. Actually we have done a lot of work in this area. And now this new announcement has given us clear guidance for our future work. So based on everything we have already done, we have a clear direction," says Lanky Zheng, the General Manager of the User Platform Department at Tencent Interactive Entertainment.

Zheng adds that this effort should encompass all of society, and that everyone can play a part in raising awareness of how gaming should be done in moderation.

"Parents, teachers, schools and of course game companies should work together to find a useful solution to this."