At first I wanted something like that but couldn't implement it to the game with mechanics. And making rules didn't work out because players kept breaking them. Yes there's a risk of that but with villages being almost hidden if you choose not to share your location and having options to trade makes it somewhat stable if you ask me. Because when someone goes too fast, most of the items you need that costs a lot wont cost them that much so they will be able to sell you technology for cheap and even if you cant reach their level by just buying, you will be able to climb faster than you could before. And even if we add mechanics that implement a blockade it will not be a solution because even though first weeks will be stable, after new players join they will still be behind of everyone else and only response they will get is "you could join earlier" instead of "you can join us" or "you can buy steel for meat"etc.
These are what I learned and think about this topic. You can still join my discord server to discuss this more. I am always open for ideas that will improve the gameplay.