Hey as a noob to this server I have to say I'm attracted by the offline protection, even with rules there's always that one ahole.
If you do decide to get rid of it, then there should still be some form of protection for those starting fresh, perhaps offline protection until they reach a certain block count and aquire a jump drive. A system of bonus zone chips based on player progression (biased to noobs) is not recommended as I can think of a few ways to scam that.