In June, we heard about a federal class action lawsuit against Square Enix over Final Fantasy XI, filed on behalf of numerous players complaining about hidden fees.  As a refresher, the lawsuit demands Square Enix pay over $5 million USD to 100,000 subscribers / plaintiffs.

That lawsuit has been amended, and lead plaintiff Esther Leong of San Francisco is adding her deleted character to the list of offenses.  Now Leong is specifying that Squre Enix failed to disclose all fees, including their policy on retaining a player's character; the label on the retail box, "additional online fees required" is too vague.

She claims that because of the publisher's vague policies, there's no way players could know that their characters and game key are permanently deleted following 90 days without payment.  Apparently, if you want to recover your in-game content before the 90-day mark, there's a reactivation fee plus an additional $12.95 USD subscription for each unpaid month.

Leong asserts she started playing Final Fantasy XI in 2005, until around August 2007.  When she returned in 2009, she found that Square Enix had nullified her account because she hadn't been paying the monthly fee.  Her deleted characters were then added to the lawsuit as "suffered damages."