In response to Valve's introduction of paid-for mods on Steam, a petition has appeared that has been signed by more than 75,000 people concerned about the move. The call to arms posted on Change.org reads:
The workshop is a place for people to share content with each other they made so all can enjoy it for free.
Since recently this is not the case for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Workshop. Valve has now erected a paywall for the mods.
Mods should be a free creation. Creations made by people who wish to add to the game so others can also enjoy said creation with the game.
We need to unite and reject this act by Valve. Unite have Valve remove the paid content of the Workshop.
It has been an uncomfortable start to life for the new paid-for content on Steam. Just hours after going live one piece of content was removed from sale, and it's clear from chatter on forums that the decision to include a charge for (some) previously free content is proving divisive amongst the community.
Valve has long been selling player-generated content for curated games, but this move is the first time they've opened the door to paid-for content being sold on the open market. While this has led to the emergence of some vociferous opposition, whether it'll be enough to sway Valve from their course remains to be seen.