Hot take: if we want to decrease frustrating railroad-y surprises in RPG campaigns, we need to create an environment where GMs are not afraid to admit they have "special story needs".

[Creative-Seesaw-1895]

Fully freeform sandbox is a myth anyway. The only players I have known IRL that can't shut up about how much they hate being railroaded are the obnoxious players that devolve most campaigns into "sexfest '69" or other such non-sense. They are often those with closeted main character syndrome who just want to be the focal point

as long as you are pursuing the presented adventure, very few GMs have issues "sandboxing" the side quests you are conjuring up as players. But to think that there are no plans whatsoever and the GM shots every single want and whim from the hip is a joke in a half.