Internet time is the decimal system of timekeeping used in Phantasy Star Online.
Wristwatch manufacturer Swatch developed Internet time in 1998 to simplify global communication about time, in part by eliminating time zones. This goal was relevant to Phantasy Star Online, since players from Japan, the Americas, Europe, and elsewhere commingled on the same servers.
Internet time divides the mean solar day, traditionally 24 hours, into 1000 .beats (dot beats) counted from @000 to @999. This measurement is sometimes also called a milliday. @000 corresponds to traditional midnight, when daylight savings time is not observed, within the Central European Time zone, where Swatch's headquarters in Biel, Switzerland is located. Neither time zones nor daylight savings time adjustments are observed in Internet time, so the time in .beats is the same in any location on any day.