From: Terra Nova - RE: Game Time

Terra Nova: CFP: Breaking the Magic Circle: "One of the classic theories of games and play was presented by Johan Huizinga in his work Homo Ludens (orig. from 1938). Huizinga wrote about the free and voluntary nature of play, how it is 'an activity connected with no material interest' and how it 'proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space', involving and absorbing players utterly into a separate world set off from the 'ordinary' life, while being created and maintained by communities of players."

This idea that play 'proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space' is very much in line with Ed Hall's ideas of Polychronic time. I would also extend this idea of 'play' to many other online activities such as surfing, blogging, and even reading. I know I get on a Wikipedia reading kick and hours will pass.