Look at all that sand!

[Mikey2305]

Unnecessarily vast? Its a scale representation of our galaxy for goodness sake....

 

[Marsman]

You can´t turn it into a sandbox MMO because "they" ( you know who) would complain about ED becoming EVE2.

And so the cat bites its tail forever.

 

[nexxo]

Personally I think crafting and social networking similar to EVE Online would be a good idea. If players don't want all the undesirable behaviours that go with it, then they simply make sure they don't emerge by not exhibiting them.
.
The setup is perfect for player-built structures. In a galaxy this size, everybody should be able to do their thing without getting too much in each others way.