This game is brutal for new players. If you're a new player, it's pretty much a guarantee that you will at some point be killed, sunk, and have all your treasure stolen by "sweats". I suspect that a not insignificant number of complaints about "player toxicity" comes from these experiences, and those complaints are usually met with a somewhat dismissive response of "That's part of the game".
I don't disagree that getting killed and sunk and having your treasure stolen is part of the game, but I also want to acknowledge that, for many people, especially the first time it happens, it can be a shocking, unpleasant, and offputting experience.
I don't think you can remove this experience from the game without fundamentally harming what Sea of Thieves is at its core. I do think however that more could be done to manage player expectations, so that their experiences of being sunk doesn't come as such an unpleasant surprise.
My suggestion is: rather than just saying "it's part of the game" after it's happened (and they're already annoyed), what if we actually worked it into the game's content from the very beginning?
What if part of the tutorial included you going on a short quest to find some treasure, fully expecting to take it back to a trading company to sell it, but on the way back you are brutally attacked, killed, sunk, and have all your treasure stolen? The pirate Lord could then appear, first on the ferry after you get killed, maybe give you a bit of lore about the ferryman, tell you your pockets are still full and your weapons reloaded, and point you through the door. After you sink he could appear again on the island where your boat respawns, and give you some pompous, grandiloquent speech about getting your first taste of danger, picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and getting back out there.
I know this wouldn't fix everything so no one's ever going to get annoyed about being sunk any more. But I think it could at least help new players realise that getting sunk isn't some horrible thing that's not supposed to happen, or a negative side effect of how it's been built that they need to find a fix for. It's a fundamental and intended part of the Sea of Thieves experience that adds tension, drama, excitement, and makes those occasions when you make it back and sell everything feel so much better.
