I agree, if the reason raging barbarians would be unbalanced is the presence of wastelands, then normal barbarians should be unbalanced too, just to a lesser degree. Plako says he can even things out for normal barbarians, but I'm not convinced that's true, unless he thinks he can do it for both settings. With the information that Plako has given about the map, I think it's a good idea to vote for barbarians off. I'd prefer to play it safe and not choose a rule that may result in us getting an unfair starting location.