The spawn areas need to be made safe zones or the players will be griefed seconds after they log in.

Pk'ing players as they spawn in is NOT playing the game, It is NOT testing for bugs, IT IS GRIEFING and such players should be banned for it. What's more pk'ing players as they spawn in to get tools and equipment is also cheating. Not everyone creates char's optimized to fast and fight making it impossible to get away.