The only thing left I think is the diversion tactic.

1.Enter the network.
2."RELEASE DAH RIVAH".....I mean WORM (preferably the size of the Dune one).
3.Let him distract the IT Technopriests.
4.Install game.
5.Enjoy whatever you want to do.

My boss is bigger than your boss, so <span class="bold">YOU'RE FIRED!</span>

Before I became my own boss, I worked for a publisher, so gaming was pretty much a prerequisite there. That being said, we had separate machines for games that were isolated from the company network as many of the work PCs were locked down in terms of what could be installed (in order to prevent the spread of viruses etc.)

Not to sound uber-capitalist, as I am exactly the opposite, but all talk of getting caught aside... how do you justify people paying you to game?

Yep. I can do my work when ever I want how ever I want. So the only one I'm 'hurting' when I game at work is myself, because I then have to stay late from time to time to catch up and finish my projects. The only time when I definitely have to be there is when I have teaching obligations. ... And I usually don't play when I'm holding lectures, so these two things never collide.

At least I don't. I still have the tasks I have to do, either during normal working hours, or in the middle of the night if needed (like last two nights). It is of course my own stupidity if I use the normal working hours for non-working related things, and then have to do unpaid overtime work to catch up (but usually I have to do the latter even if I tried to do all my work on normal working hours).

Your question is no different than are people getting paid to surf the web, when they do that during their working time. Naturally, in many professions it is not possible, albeit people seem to use their smartphones even when they are in the toilet taking a dump, or when there are no customers.

Having said that, it has been quite rare occurrence also to me to play games at workplace, during working hours, mainly because it'd usually mean taking several hours off of work. Visiting forums (like I am doing now) is possible with much smaller 10 minute snippets, and then get back to work. (I just finished one emergency task, now I eat while I read GOG forums, and in 15 minutes I'll be participating a meeting). Gaming couldn't normally fit into my working time unless it was something like Tetris, and even then it takes certain state of mind to even start playing some game, which I normally don't have during working hours.

The few cases when have played games at my work, it was basically that I had hardly anything to do but just to sit, because all others were on vacation, no active tasks to do, waiting someone else's input to be able to proceed with my tasks etc. But most days, I certainly have always some work to do in the backlog, and I just don't feel like gaming until I get home (and sometimes not even then, but rather just passively look at the TV).

EDIT: The two before me said exactly the same thing, with much less words.

In my case, I never feel like gaming unless I have ample free time, or at least two hours of non-disturbance. For me, games are about immersion, and I can't get immersed if I'm glancing at my clock because I have to be somewhere in an hour, or looking over my shoulder to check whether anyone is looking at my screen. So I play games in those few evenings which are completely free (except an obligatory jogging session) or during those rare weekends when I don't have to leave my flat at all (those are getting rarer).

But such weekends are pure bliss: I make myself enough warm or cold beverage, depending on the weather, and game away. Of course, I get some rest from the computer by going outside to jog, meet my friends etc., but the very knowledge that I don't have any immediate obligations makes gaming possible for me. That's why I could never game at work, even if it were allowed. OK, maybe a short arcade...

I guess it is the same for me overall. So while I have sometimes tried playing games at work, I just usually aren't in the right state of mind to do that.

Then again, I have even watched a couple of movies at work... but it was the same thing. I rather do it when I am 100% sure I won't be interrupted.

Fair enough, but I know from my own time in cubicles that a lot of American workers dick around on forums, facebook and flash games all day and ignore their work. That's why so many projects take forever.

if your employer has restrictive IT use policies, you'd be wise not to risk your job. Beyond the question of the use of IT hardware for entertainment purposes, and the issue of wasted working time, the installation of unauthorized software could also forms the grounds of a disciplinary action.

My own employer has very thight policies. While I would be allowed to read a data dvd, I have no video player, cannot access the HDD , everything going onto networkdrives. These network drives are screened twice a year on a random basis. isolating the PC from the network will triger a service incident. I can go on internet, but some sites are blocked (anything remotely related to games, to sex, to weapons, some news sites and a lot of "suspicious" sites ). They have deployed a facebook / Twitter / instant messaging interceptor, a keylogger and an application monitoring tool. On corporate tablets ans smartphone, they deploy rootkits that allow then to run periodical screenings and, if necessary, "sanitize" the device remotely. To make it clear, every time a consultant presents them a "solution" to strenghten control , they eagerly buy it ...

I would not do well working where you are. But I do use my personal laptop at work for everything. The cheap piece of crap HP laptop they bought me was slow as crap and still had XP on it (I prefer 7 for the XP-diehards).

Morally... you shouldn't.

Technically... you shouldn't.

There are tools available that can send screenshots of your activities at preset intervals, log key strokes, report active executables, report active services, etc. They don't even have to go out and look for the data... they can simply get an email anytime a new .exe is launched.

Even if you don't install the game, there are multiple ways that your company can know exactly what you are doing with their equipment. But the question is... do they only care about their equipment or do they also care about how you spend your time?

That is indeed the limit of such a regressive system. It tires the target and removes quite a lot of goodwill from the employee-employer relationship.
I have a small netbook that comes in very handy. I can easily connect on a nearby public hotspot if needed. I don't use it to play though, because that's contrary to my work ethics ( but if my employer keeps treating me like a convict , that may change ). Or I take my tablet with me. From a distance, it's quite hard to tell the difference between me reading "the phantom of the opera" during my lunch break and me sacrificing my lunch break to reread some project specs...

It's been my experience that when projects take far longer than they're supposed to it's usually due to the project being poorly managed. Individual workers screwing off instead of working can (and does) delay certain tasks within a project getting done, but if that is routinely allowed to impact the overall progress of the project it's because those in charge of managing the project didn't recognize it as a problem and take appropriate action. This isn't to excuse people screwing off instead of doing their jobs (and if managers routinely have to talk to someone about this then that person should be replaced), but ultimately whether a project is being carried out efficiently or not tends to come down to how the project is being managed.