Yeah, it works differently now compared to old version, in last version when you built a house it was basically indestructible unless they had enough strength, now this builds over time (i think 3 days?) for the house to reach full resist strength. AKA don't build big projects/houses until you can lay down a claim.
Also, it seems that new chars spawn at a (somewhat) small area somewhere on the map, if you walk into one direction and just keep going you'll see less and less people. Been walking for like 2 hours towards north-west and haven't seen anyone.