Dear EA Team,

I writing in to you today, to tell you that I am someone who has been diagnosed with Depression, after a decade of harrowing work in the journalism industry. Over the last five years, nothing really provided any long-term solutions. As an alternative approach, two years ago, I’ve been told to focus on things that can help keep me centered, and FIFA (FUT in particular) offered me just that outlet. I began to show signs of improvement and found it to be generally therapeutic. It helped me find peace within myself, so that no matter how reclusive and alone I felt, I could always be myself when playing the beautiful game on-screen. I hope that others like me find themselves within the game, and in turn find the peace that often eludes people coping with what I go through.

SBCs in themselves are a great way to stimulate focus and work toward goals, with the rewards coming from them being a great means of fulfillment, and over the last two years, I’ve worked extensively towards getting the bulk of those undertaken.

Having only played single player modes last year, I decided to get more involved and see if it aided recovery I any way shape or form, and to be honest, brought me any more joy than I was currently experiencing, and only this Monday, I went out and subscribed to the Playstation Plus services. I was completely thrilled to see a Gnabry Bundesliga SBC released on Tuesday evening, and went all out to get it done as soon as it was released, and went to bed feeling more content than I had been in a long time. However, it was next morning that all that elation and peace was shattered. I woke up to be told that I had been permanently banned by the Terms of Service Team, from using the transfer market. I have no idea why apart from a blanket statement. I don’t understand how or why, nor was I offered any explanation, and I’ve been in a state of absolute fitfulness since then, as this is my only recourse when it comes to dealing with my problems. If you, reading this, have ever had to deal with these issues, or have had a loved one who has coped with them, you may perhaps understand where I’m coming from. If you look at my account, you will see how regularly I play, just to take the edge off what I go through. You will also see that I’ve never had a large number of coins to distribute anything (I don’t think I’ve had more than 110,000 at any point) nor do I have any players of high value in my team, which I should have, had I purchased any coins. I do have a handful, but those are all untradeable, as a reward for a lot of time and effort. I have a lot of SBC and objective players, all as a result of using FIFA as a tool to stabilize (successfully until now) my battle with mental health. With no access to the transfer market, I can’t even do any SBCs, and my route of ‘reward your commitment and focus with goal incentivized returns’ goes down the drain.

Please note that I very adamantly want to point out that isn’t one of those complaints stemming from entitlement. In no way am I launching into the “How dare you do this to me, I’ve been a loyal customer for years,” diatribe. I love the game and it’s my preferred form of keeping the demons at bay, but after a week with no resolution, I am beginning to see the opening of the rabbit-hole that I have emerged from, looming once again. I do hope that someone can please look into my account, and realize that this is some kind of system generated anomaly, because I really have virtually nothing of coin value, but a lot of time invested into the game. I have never broken the rules and I really need to keep going down this therapeutic route, without which I will need to find a whole new coping mechanism and adjust to that, which is no laughing matter. As someone facing these issues (documentation for corroboration can be provided if required), it’s not easy facing the day, but having a companion like FIFA (when it isn’t shackled) helps beyond measure. I would have understood if I had been told that I had done something unacceptable and that a further violation may have caused this action to have been taken, but instead I just woke up to a ban, and a mail which even included a line that said, “We all want to help a friend out, but sending them coins isn’t the way to do it.” I’d like to point out that I have no friends left. The fallout of this disease sees to that.

Thank you for crafting and creating an excellent game, and I still do hope to hear from someone, as I am currently in a state of decline, after showing much progress, especially this last month of October.

Yours most sincerely,

A patient showing much progress in recovery.