I'd be favourable to give people a choice to start from a slightly higher level than 1. Lvl 2, or 3, say. Aside from being an option that would attract more people, it certainly offers a degree of variety to the pbp scene, since the vast majority of games starts at level 1 (and does not go beyond that).
But stonegod is the experienced one, he can probably tell us if that is a bad idea.
EDIT: And btw, I reckon that stonegod himself is not willing to be a judge? I was wondering why, he certainly woud be a great asset!