The old players make it very difficult for new players to get started, the mentality 'it was hard for me, it should be hard for them' is not right, this is a beta and this is an obvious problem that deters many from playing the game.
Maybe if you killed 5 players that are levels 1-3 in the wasteland you would earn the perk 'noob killer' and be unprotected in guarded towns, as well as have your name added to bulletin boards in towns. Only in random encounters though so it couldn't be exploited in towns. How to avoid the perk? Don't kill anybody with less than 50hp (unless you are level 1-3 as well)