You do realise PVP is on on all gamemodes right? And it's called a PVP area for a reason. If they turn PVP off there, then there's no point for the whole pinata thing to be in PVP.
It is true that new players do not have gear. But by playing you grind, gaining stuff, upgrading. This can just serve as a motivation to get better tools, armor or even just better at pvp.
I've experienced the same in the Prison gamemode so I'm not sure if it's the same, but you need to make sure that it's pointing straight ahead, not even a bit to the side, because it can cause those types of problems.