Piotrek, known online as Xwin0, spends his days in the virtual world, playing online games with other users. This is his journey into the inner darkness – “darkness is ok, it's safe”. Xwin0 seems to be having fun, “grinding” and gaining new skills, but his journey into the virtual universe is actually an act of despair, an escape from the world. He sets up a meeting with a girl he met in the game, but he lacks the courage to actually show up, so the furious female user insists on Xwin0 being banned from the gaming community. Since then, Piotrek remains in limbo. He is no longer alive in the game, a certain Hunter has stripped him of his heart:
“The Hunter approaches quietly, silently, almost painlessly. He reaches deep and removes the heart from the boy's chest. He weighs the heart in his hand, weighs it, nods. He walks away. Quietly, silently, almost painlessly. And the light goes with him.”
In the real world he’s also not really alive, as he has become exceedingly depressed and distant from his family. So much so, that his parents and sister decide to give him a symbolic funeral. Piotr is nowhere, none of the worlds seems safe enough anymore.
The first part of the play depicts the dynamic, hectic world of games: the chameleon-like Voice of the Narrator creates successive virtual realities, using various linguistic stylistics, his utterances interweaving with dialogues straight from an Internet communicator. The second part of the piece presents the realistic perspective of the father, mother and sister, who take care of Piotrek, who is in a catatonic state.
Xwin0 is a dark fairy tale set in the world of online games, dealing with the theme of depression and alienation – and, importantly, it is far from claiming the moral high ground.