Can't you just imagine it now? You're sitting at home, playing your favorite MMORPG, you've been on for a good four hours already and you show no signs of stopping, then all of a sudden you get the urge to quit and you aren't sure why. So what changed from one minute to the next? Could it have been a subliminal message telling you to quit playing because you had been at it for too long?

From the article:

he Korea Times reports on a company which claims to have developed an inaudible sound sequence that can be used to make obsessive online gamers step away from their PCs.

Yun Yun-hae, president of Xtive, told the Korea Times that the concept is based on subliminal messages:

We incorporated messages into an acoustic sound wave telling gamers to stop playing. The messages are told 10,000 to 20,000 times per second. Game users can’t recognize the sounds. But their subconscious is aware of them and the chances are high they will quit playing.

Korea is one of several countries where officials are concerned about online gaming addiction.

Our newly developed sound sequence tells (adolescents) to stop playing on their own. We think this can make a real difference in the war against obsessive game play.

Read the full article over at gamepolitics.com