Change to the ban system.

[Penthea]

If the OP is having as much trouble as they claim with either a mental or psychological disorder, they should be more concerned with getting professional help than worrying about being banned from the game. In all honesty, being banned from might actually be good for them in the grand scheme of things if it forces them to confront and work on their real-life issues.

I feel that this is quite unfair to say. Not to OP specifically, but to anyone who uses escapism.

It can be very upsetting, even traumatic, if your only means of escaping the harshness of real life is being taken away from you. I am not saying these people shouldn't seek professional help. Just saying that it's pretty insensitive to say that a person with mental issues should just prioritise what appears to them as a more difficult and lengthy route (getting help) instead of the easier and shorter route (escapism). While it may look like a simple logical choice to an outsider, it's not to the person who is literally fighting a battle within themselves.

Ideally what OP should do is both seek professional help as well as find a form of escapism that doesn't aggravate their issues, which is why I suggested in my first post they should at least take a break if not outright quit multiplayer games. Escapism is a very important thing to everyone. We all need a space where we can relax, forget about problems, and just live in the moment to enjoy ourselves. Everyone needs time to reboot. The key is to not let the access to escapism make you neglect the vital things of real life.

And I don't disagree that OP getting banned may be good for them long-term, but short-term it's going to cause them a lot of grief. And that is normal.

What you could do, after a very long period of good behaviour on your main account, is appeal the status of your account. I have no idea if SE would look into it but if you are able to prove that you can play for a long time without causing trouble they might lift some of the strikes from your account. I estimate you would need at least six months of good behaviour.

While this is true, it's actually not unheard of for people to have made successful appeals for bans and strikes based on long periods of good behaviour, or so much time has passed that it can be argued that the individual has since grown up.

I am bringing up what I said about this again because it seems to have mislead some people. The underlined and bolded section states that I really do not know if SE ever revoke bans or strikes on accounts. I suggested to OP that they could make an appeal at a far later date after proving they can play for a long time with good behaviour because I know of instances where this was successful in other games that are not run by SE. So there might be a chance that SE may do the same. Even if they do not now, perhaps they will in the future.

But these successful appeals were not a simple case of "hey I played for a year with no hiccups, can I get the strikes removed now?" or "what I did was three years ago when I was a stupid teenager, and I have grown up. Can I have my account back?". They were made very eloquently with great care. In order to be successful you need to very clearly show in the appeal that you have moved on and have become a better person. And of course not every appeal ends in the favour of the player. Only a small number do. These cases while not impossible, are exceptional.

[Rymm]

I feel that this is quite unfair to say. Not to OP specifically, but to anyone who uses escapism.

I'll not deny that my response was fairly callous. But I've seen the OP's "problem" likened to addiction several times over the course of this thread. If that's truly the case and their problem really is that severe, then SE 'forgiving' one of their strikes or granting them some sort of reprieve would be nothing short of enabling them. At some point you have to draw a hard line and stop buying booze for the alcoholic (or, maybe a more accurate analogy in this case, stop giving them a ride to the liquor store.)

Escapism can be a wonderful or even sometimes a necessary thing, but either one of two things is happening in this particular case-

Either this person has an extreme problem and is not physically or mentally able to control their impulses. In which case, something this severe would have a large and detrimental impact in their real life which should definitely take priority over an MMO. In such a case escapism should not be used as a crutch if it is allowing them to hide from and avoid fixing their real life problems. Taking the game away may genuinely be the kindest and most helpful thing you could do for them if it spurs them to confront their issue and improve their overall quality of life.

Or this person is exaggerating their condition and can function normally in real life. In which case they are simply choosing not to exert the same level of control over themselves while playing the game and they absolutely deserve their inevitable ban.