Temporary ownership of items strengthened the dynamic role changing nature of the game, with crewmates sharing the tools they needed to succeed. I can understand why some of the development team were so attached to the idea of temporary items, but the Item Recovery Chest seems mental when you think about it. Some observers may remember some early alpha videos where only one crew member could hold a map, and had to direct other players where to go on the larger islands. Eventually, an unpopular-at-the-time change was made to make items permanently owned by all players, but it was a necessary step For many months in Sea Of Thieves, items like shovels and compasses were temporarily owned things shared between players that created social gameplay.
