The game was an adventure to help find "Jess" and the meaning of Xi by collecting fragments and butterflies found in a series of secret areas in Home that changed frequently.

The game was promoted through a teaser campaign of clues and hints during the month prior to its release on March 23, 2009.

Xi and all of the corresponding spaces were exclusive to the European and North American versions of PlayStation Home, though there were also websites, videos, printed media and live events which were accessible to anyone.

"Xi started at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival a couple of years ago," (from 2009) says Patrick O'Luanaigh, the founder of nDreams.

[5] A month before the game's official release on March 23, 2009, clues and hints were seen in the users Menu Pad and in videos in the central meeting point of Home.

Between February 12 and March 23, there were many clues and videos released in Home hinting at the nature and launch date of Xi.

Collecting these unlocked a weblink to the alphaAFK clan website, which Thom then told users to access via the Online Getaway found in The Hub.

Fragments were won by playing mini-games, solving puzzles, and searching for clues in Home and in the associated Xi websites.

All 24 fragments were required to complete Xi; the butterfly expeditions were entirely optional (tougher) side-quests that often called for cooperation and collaboration between players in the real world.

The main antagonist was a corporation called Veilcorp, which claimed Jess had been developing Xi for them until she absconded.

This story was revealed through text-chat conversations between the alphaAFK testers; videos from Jess; blogs; puzzles; the Veilcorp website; and information discovered by players at live events.

This restriction was lifted 24 hours later, as the alphaAFK enabled any player to pass through the monolith if they wished, regardless of how many fragments they had accumulated.

Immediately after passing through the monolith, players were prompted with a message asking the user if they wanted to complete Xi or return to The Hub.

The player had to choose one way or the other based only on the patchy information they had learned about Xi from the various biased sources during the game.

In either case, the outcome was unpleasant: release Xi and it turns out to be a virus that brings down the banking system, causes global chaos, but perhaps resets the human race on a more sustainable course; destroy Xi and it turns out to have been an anti-spyware virus designed to protect the privacy of the world's citizens, and by destroying it, the player had allowed Veilcorp to take total control of business, government and all personal freedoms.

After the video, the player was taken deeper into The White Hall where they met a video-realistic version of Jess - or rather 'Jessica', who explained that this whole game was a recruitment exercise to attract and identify people with particular skills spanning the real and virtual worlds.

She needed to find people who can make difficult decisions in unclear situations, particularly when it comes to guiding how the world uses technology in future.

[7] Patrick O’Luanaigh told Edge magazine that nDreams "ended up doing 12 spaces, 24 minigames, 108 videos and four huge websites."

"Getting in on Sony’s project early meant nDreams found itself in a privileged position" notes Edge magazine.

Due to changes introduced with the Home client update 1.35, these spaces needed to be rebuilt to ensure that they continued to function as designed.

The objective was to stop a character named EatFlamingDeath and prevent a bomb from destroying the Continuum, and in turn, Home.