# Is Eve Online still a sandbox?

**URL:** <https://forums.eveonline.com/t/is-eve-online-still-a-sandbox/496128>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Created:** [August 20, 2025, 8:47am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/is-eve-online-still-a-sandbox/496128 "2025-08-20T08:47:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![The\_Voice](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/the_voice/32/386683_2.png) [@The\_Voice](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/The_Voice)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 8:47am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/is-eve-online-still-a-sandbox/496128/1 "2025-08-20T08:47:28Z")

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I’ve been around EVE for a long time, and I still love the game — but in the last 5–7 years it feels less and less like a sandbox and more like a heavily manipulated environment.

EVE used to be about long-term thinking, about making choices and living with them. You could invest years into a plan and trust that, while the game might evolve, your investment of time and SP would largely remain valid. Lately, though, it feels like every time I commit to something, CCP moves the goalposts. The constant nerfing doesn’t just make things harder — it erodes the very sandbox feeling that drew me (and a lot of us) in.

Here are just a few examples from my own experience:

1. Trained into a Rorqual → nerfed.

2. Invested months if not a year into carriers, dreads, supers, and T2 fighters → nerfed.

3. Maxed out resistances → nerfed (only recently partly reverted).

4. Skilled up multiple characters for gas huffing → nerfed shortly after.

5. Got all Triglavian ships and weapons to L5 on three characters → nerfed shortly after.

6. Invested heavily in missile and ship skills → missile range nerfed.

7. Maxed out exploration on three characters → loot floods tanked the market.

8. Built a dedicated trade alt → nerfed with increased taxes.

And I know I’m forgetting others.

The point is: I’m still doing fine, but it feels like going backwards. Not because of player-driven competition, but because of developer-driven tinkering. That undermines what made EVE unique.

The sandbox isn’t supposed to punish you for long-term commitment – but lately, at least for a couple of years now – that’s exactly what it feels like.

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