Either way, newbies won\'t really gain anything if they recieve gifts from veterans. These veterans reached veterancy even though they didn\'t get any presents as newbies. The newbies don\'t need gifts to survive.
Also, I\'ve seen too many MMO types that had their community going really bad because veterans kept giving newbies gifts. A newbie that recieves a gift once, and twice, is very likely to become a beggar. They go around expecting people to give them stuff. When they don\'t get it, they start being annoying.
Then, when veterans see that other veterans give things so willingly, they make new characters, and beg. Then they give all the gifts to their main char...
Gifts should be between friends, and that\'s it.