I don\'t feel rewarding those who have played for a long time is discriminating against new players. As Wedge noted, they have the chance to come play now, unless they cannot get it to run.
Chances are that someone in Molecular Blue (me & others) would teach them the ropes and guide them around a bit. Chances are the experienced players will continue to help new people in Crystal Blue too. In fact, any bonus would just get us up to speed more quickly, and then we can help others get up to speed too. It puts us in a position to be able to better serve others.
Some people may use this against new players. I doubt Explorers would. I doubt Feline\'s Lair would. I\'m fairly sure it\'s against Mirth\'s beliefs. I doubt Defenders would - in fact, they\'d probably be defending new players from mobs and even experienced players who are now out to kill people. Just a guess. I\'ve heard from several Assassins that they will defend people too. So are we really all out to get the new players? It doesn\'t sound like it to me.
Chances are many of the more serious new players will join guilds, and these guilds will help them grow and bring them up to speed. Isn\'t that what guilds do? Guild members help other guild members. The community at large helps people.
As someone who\'s answered newbie questions for two months now, and was given the honorary title of \"Moogie\'s Assistant\" after one week, I\'ve noted a few things: Some new players are extremely polite and want to learn how to play. It is a pleasure to help them, and many people do. I teach them on their first day what took me a week to learn, and tell them of things they\'ll be able to do with practice - some of which I only learned a few days ago! These people learn quickly.
Others are not so polite and scream in all caps for an hour and make obscene threats against us. These people will likely be helped less and therefore will be at a disadvantage, or may be taken out by someone. Sorry to be blunt, but that\'s not our problem. ;-)
A final note. Grakrim - Naturally you wouldn\'t have to keep anything unless you want to. If we have a webpage, you can simply not get a bonus. Even if there is no way to opt-out of anything, you could always distribute your wealth among 15 new players.