UPDATE, 21/3/18: It looks like Sea of Thieves' servers are shipshape and open to all players once more.

"For those playing and those joining", Rare noted in an update posted to Twitter, "we are continuing to work on improvements to the game in order to ensure the playing experience will be optimal. Please be patient as we are working on updates."

For those playing and those joining we are continuing to work on improvements to the game in order to ensure the playing experience will be optimal. Please be patient as we are working on updates. pic.twitter.com/wUc8xw8Wmk — Sea of Thieves (@SeaOfThieves) March 21, 2018

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ORIGINAL STORY, 20/3/18: Rare has temporarily closed its Sea of Thieves servers to new players while it attempts to address a variety of issues.

Throughout the day, players have reported experiencing numerous problems with the game's servers, ranging from lag and disappearing money and progression, to constant failure-to-connect 'Greybeard' errors (Sea of Thieves eschews numerical error codes in favour of beard-themed labels, so if you're experiencing issues, you might find Eurogamer's Sea of Thieves error code guide handy).

In order to resolve the issues players are seeing with the servers, we will be temporarily suspending new players joining the game. We'll get everyone back in and playing as quickly as we can! — Sea of Thieves (@SeaOfThieves) March 20, 2018

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"In order to resolve the issues players are seeing with the servers," Rare explained on Twitter, "we will be temporarily suspending new players joining the game. We'll get everyone back in and playing as quickly as we can!"

Earlier in the day, the developer noted that "We've got A LOT of eager pirates playing #SeaOfThieves right now and due to this some of you may experience issues." It said that its engineers "are working hard to investigate and alleviate them".

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Day one server issues are hardly unheard of for massive multiplayer-focussed releases, although they're obviously disappointing for all involved. The good news is that Sea of Thieves' most alarming server problems - namely disappearing monetary rewards and level progression - are easily remedied simply by rejoining the game.

Sea of Thieves' freeform piratical adventuring has already managed to deliver some of my very favourite gaming moments in years, although its idiosyncratic approach to multiplayer might not be to everyone's liking. Hopefully Rare can get on top of its server issues soon.