To Matchmake or Not to Matchmake?

As my alliance prepares for the upcoming Alliance Tournament XI, I am realizing how much I enjoy organized and regulated PVP in EVE.  Now don't get me wrong, I love the "sandbox" aspect of EVE, it is one of the reasons EVE is such a great game, but I do wish there were more options for creating fair matches between players interested in fighting each other.

I've heard many of the arguments against a matchmaking system, and most of them make a fair point, but there has to be some way we can preserve the sandbox of New Eden while still enabling players to participate in fights without having to worry about being blobbed at every turn.  The possibility of being blobbed is part of the fun in itself, but I still yearn for a system that allows for a regulated fight.

I've heard many people point to FW complexes as the solution since there are restrictions on ship types depending on the size of the plex.  While its nice to not have to worry about a battleship showing up to a frig fight, it still doesn't solve to problem of being overrun by a fleet with twice your number, and the "bring more ships" option sometimes just isn't plausible.

Some have also said that one should go to Singularity (the test server) if all you want to do is blow stuff up.  To me this is another cop out; I want what I do in-game to still have a lasting effect on the game world.  When you take risk of loss out of the equation it dulls the intensity of EVE PVP.  Although I will admit going nuts on the test server can be fun from time to time :)

I'm aware of free-for-all tournaments that are hosted throughout the game universe, these are a lot of fun to participate in but utterly lack what constitutes a fair match.  I want to be able to test my skills against an equally equipped enemy with no room for argument.

The major issue I have with matchmaking in EVE is that it would take away the sandbox, or the randomness of the game.   If a full fledged matchmaking system was implemented I believe there would be a collapse of activity in the game world, which of course is a horrible thing to ponder.

 Look at World of Warcraft; there is a dungeon finder, raid finder, and a PVP system that is entirely based around matchmaking.  You can literally stand in one location and queue up for almost all of the end-game content this game has to offer.  While providing convenience for their players, the developers have consequently made it so almost nobody goes out into the game world which they so tirelessly worked over.  This kind of system would ruin EVE and must be avoided.

So how can it be done?  I think in order to preserve the sandbox, but still allow players to participate in matches outside of the alliance tournament, CCP needs to give some in-game tools to players that will allow them to set up their own regulated tournaments without running the risk of them being crashed by other players.  A system like this would take a lot of work to implement and would have to be restricted in some way, but I think it would be worth it in the long run.

I imagine a system where a CEO or executor could initiate a match against another corporation or alliance.  On this theoretical interface you could edit the match date/time, participant list, ship restrictions, ship bans, and other match variables.  It could be set up with a point system like the one currently being used in the alliance tournament, the CEO's could assign certain ship types to each of their members (without the opposing team knowing the ship types, of course).  When the match is about to take place the game would run a check on each participant to make sure they are in their assigned ship and using the allowed modules/implants.

If they pass the check the player is "locked in", they then would choose the distance they want to be from the match beacon and are teleported to the match area.  This match area could be an un-scannable deadspace pocket or off-grid system with no way in or out. Nobody would be able to perform any action until the match begins.  There could be some sort of bubble around the match area that instantly pops any ship that moves out past 125km of the beacon.  There would also have to be some sort of point tracking system to decide on a winner if the match goes over a certain time limit.  After the match is over all players would be teleported back to where they were originally before the match began, and a winner is assigned.

I know there would be many issues to be worked out with a system like this, not to mention it would take a shit ton of work to implement and fine tune, but wouldn't it be fun?  I believe all players should have the opportunity to experience something akin to the alliance tournament, rather than just those select few who get to do it only once a year.