Trolling

Griefing is very frowned upon in Minecraft. It wrecks constructions, ruins many hours of work, and makes levels untidy. At best griefing annoys other players, at worst it can destroy an entire server.

This page is to help players combat griefers, not to give you ideas!

Random Destruction
This is when a griefer destroys random blocks, putting holes in walls and other structures, making them look broken and messy. The way to combat this is to just repair the damage and have an admin kick the offender, then repair the damage by hand. If there is no admin to kick, then just wait for the griefer to get bored.

Random Construction
This is when a griefer creates random blocks on constructions, making them look messy. The way to combat this is to just remove the extra blocks and have an admin kick the offender. If there is no admin to kick, again, just wait for the griefer to get bored. This type of griefing doesn't seem as bad as the first, but it can be just as annoying. Often griefers both destroy and create blocks in their quest to annoy others.

Water Flood
This occurs when a griefer destroys blocks causing water to spill across the level and into/over any contructions players have made. This normally can only happen when the construction is underground, or the ground level is below the level of the ocean. There have also been instances of hackers making water blocks in the middle of the sky, causing it to flood the entire level. If the damage is minimal, or the area small, a player can fill the area with another type of block, such as leaves, then dig them out again, leaving the area dry. Any water nearby will reflood the empty area again however. If the area is much larger the water is pretty much there to stay as there's not convenient way to remove large amounts of water from a level. Another danger that water also causes is the huge number of chunk updates that occur when water spreads rapidly can cause buffers to fill and players to lose connection to the server.

Lava Flood
Similar to a Water Flood, a lava floods the area with lava instead of water. Lava is far slower than water, so most of the time, if it's caught the lava can be stopped with a few well placed blocks. Lava floods are also rarer because lava is mainly found underground, at depths far below the common areas of water.

Offensive Constructions
Some griefers often grief others by writing rude words or drawing phallic symbols everywhere. It's often generally harmless fun, but if a player finds it offensive they can destroy the offending problem. This is far less of a problem that the others, although some constructions high up in the sky may take some creative thinking to remove.

Combatting Griefers
The best way to combat griefers is to kick and ban them, often with a permanent ip ban. Until there is a more robust system, however, players and admins just need to be vigilant. When a griefer is found, an admin can verify what they are doing be /teleport-ing to them. After that a /kick or /ban command will remove the griefer from the server.

Griefers: You have been warned.