Tutorials/Griefing prevention

Griefing is the act of angering people in video games through the use of destruction, construction, or social engineering. Popularized in Minecraft by "professional" teams, griefing has become a serious problem for server administrators who wish to foster building and protect average builders.

Rise of Griefing
Griefing is far from a new phenomenon in video games. Frustrated users or mal-intentioned gamers have oftentimes tried to cause grief among other players in multiplayer servers they join. One of the most famous groups to do this was Team Roomba in their Team Fortress Griefing series that was picked up and popularized by the Escapist Magazine.

Minecraft Griefing Teams
The creation of teams producing their own videos has revolutionized Minecraft griefing. Since the popularization of griefing by notorious teams such as Team Avolition, numerous griefing groups have spawned and created a strong fanbase for the topic.

Fortunately for server administrators, who wish to counter griefing at every turn, the popularization of griefing has pushed the creation of numerous anti-griefing tools and techniques.

Common Griefing Methods and Prevention
{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="4" ! Method ! Description ! How To Prevent }
 * Destruction
 * The name pretty much says it. Basically, most griefers' goals are to destroy as much stuff as they can in order to make the server as ugly as possible. This can include Creative "nuking", where users can instantly destroy all blocks in reach, or "torch nuking" when the griefer destroys only torches (many hacked clients have these as built in features).
 * This can be avoided with block and chunk protection plugins. Logging/Rollback plugins can completely undo the damage done by individual griefers.
 * Creation
 * Nearly as frequently as simple destruction of servers, griefers also often attempt to create offensive structures such as ugly towers, swastikas, and phallic structures.
 * Logging/Rollback plugins can completely undo the damage done by individual griefers.
 * Spamming
 * There are many types of spamming from chat spam to spamming animal spawn. With the 1.1 addition of mob spawning eggs, this has become even more of an issue, especially for Creative servers, this is when a player spawns a lot of mobs in an attempt to make the server lag or simply to annoy players. Chat spamming, which is far more common, is an attempt to flood the chat with messages, preventing communication between the server's legitimate players and may, if left unchecked, lead to lag in the server.
 * Stopping chat spam is fairly easy with spam protection plugins and other plugins can even prevent the usage of eggs.
 * Lava/Water Flooding
 * If able, oftentimes griefers will attempt to place as much lava (preferable because of its killing properties) and water around a map in order to make it as ugly and dangerous as possible. Rarely water and lava can be used in conjunction to create massive amounts of cobblestone very quickly.
 * The best way to prevent this from happening is to simply limit who is able to place lava or water. If the damage has already been done, the best way to remove it is with world editing plugins.
 * Spawn Killing
 * On servers with PvP enabled, some players will take advantage of this to kill legitimate players as they spawn (because the spawn point/area is predictable). The use of client modifications such as "Kill Aura" is frequently used to give the griefer a large advantage.
 * The most effective way at preventing this is to disable PvP in the spawn area with server plugins and provide multiple exits for newly spawned players to escape from (a single exit point is very predictable).
 * Tree Griefing
 * For a long time, block logging plugins did not have the ability to roll back the growth of trees. Because of this, many griefers will place saplings and use bonemeal (if available) to grow full trees in the locations where houses once stood, preventing rollbacks from easily undoing their damage.
 * Previously, server admins would restrict the use of saplings and bonemeal, however that lead to issues for normal players. Luckily, logging/rollback plugins are now able to track and undo player-grown trees.
 * Fire Griefing
 * Most builders use a lot of flammable materials, and if the server has fire spread enabled, a griefer armed with a Flint and Steel can destroy a lot, very quickly.
 * Disable fire spread with world protection plugins.
 * Social Engineering
 * While not a form of griefing in itself, I felt that it required special attention. "SE" is any technique used as an attempt to gain the trust of people by acting as a normal player or creating a situation where the legitimate players need to trust them. This can involve anything from blaming someone else for something, throwing a teammate under the bus, being very nice, or just acting like a normal player. This is not a form of griefing because it does not do any damage in itself, but may result in the griefer gaining a staff position when they can use administrator tools to grief.
 * Be very careful who gets administrator tools, make sure that you know them well enough to trust them with power.
 * Fire Griefing
 * Most builders use a lot of flammable materials, and if the server has fire spread enabled, a griefer armed with a Flint and Steel can destroy a lot, very quickly.
 * Disable fire spread with world protection plugins.
 * Social Engineering
 * While not a form of griefing in itself, I felt that it required special attention. "SE" is any technique used as an attempt to gain the trust of people by acting as a normal player or creating a situation where the legitimate players need to trust them. This can involve anything from blaming someone else for something, throwing a teammate under the bus, being very nice, or just acting like a normal player. This is not a form of griefing because it does not do any damage in itself, but may result in the griefer gaining a staff position when they can use administrator tools to grief.
 * Be very careful who gets administrator tools, make sure that you know them well enough to trust them with power.
 * While not a form of griefing in itself, I felt that it required special attention. "SE" is any technique used as an attempt to gain the trust of people by acting as a normal player or creating a situation where the legitimate players need to trust them. This can involve anything from blaming someone else for something, throwing a teammate under the bus, being very nice, or just acting like a normal player. This is not a form of griefing because it does not do any damage in itself, but may result in the griefer gaining a staff position when they can use administrator tools to grief.
 * Be very careful who gets administrator tools, make sure that you know them well enough to trust them with power.

There are other forms of griefing, however they are simply variations on the ones listed above. Essentially, if moderators are attentive and the server is equipped with the necessary plugins, a server can be very secure from griefing.

Griefing Clients
While modifications to Minecraft clients are fairly popular with legitimate mods, griefers also often employ client modifications to aid their efforts. Common client "hacks" include:


 * Flying: Not necessarily used just for griefing, this hack gives the user the ability to fly similar to as if they were in Creative mode at adjustable speed levels.
 * X-ray: Stops the rendering of any block besides ones desirable to the griefer. This hack is often used to find chests or valuable minerals such as diamond.
 * FullBright: This hack lights up all blocks as if they were in direct sunlight, even in pitch darkness.
 * NoFall: This hack prevents damage from being taken when falling from high areas.
 * Sneak: This allows griefers to sneak indefinitely and move at a faster pace. This will keep their nameplates hidden behind walls just as if they were holding the sneak button.
 * Speed Breaking or InstaMine: This allows for griefers to break blocks at a much faster speed than normal.
 * Aura or Forcefield: This auto attacks anything from players to mobs within striking range.
 * Nuker or Annihilator: This destroys all blocks within reach radius automatically.
 * God: This makes the user invincible. Almost all versions of this hack have been patched.
 * Step: This modification allows for the user to simply walk up blocks and small cliffs (up to 9 blocks high) as if they were half steps.
 * Build: Build hacks are simply modifications that instantly place blocks in a predetermined pattern. Common builds include cubes, pillars, and platforms.
 * FastPlace: This modification eliminates the normal delay when placing blocks.
 * Freecam: This mod allows the user to separate himself from his body and fly around to scout out areas. Since infinite reach was patched, the user of this mod cannot affect any blocks outside his/her reach radius.
 * Spam or Flood: This allows the client to send a huge number of chat messages to the server.

How to Prevent Griefing
While there is not much that can stop a determined griefer, there are ways for a server to mitigate the risks of being griefed. The following is a list of steps server owners can take to try to keep their server protected:


 * Protect the server with appropriate anti-griefing plugins.
 * Do not let administrators abuse their power (this can incite anger in users and bring about griefing).
 * Be careful what permissions to which people have access. Owners can limit access with Server modifications.
 * Be careful where the server is advertised. While more exposure means more members, it also means griefers can find it just as easily.
 * Become familiar with what griefers are capable of doing. There are no hacks "to gain op" or "delete the server", however if you know what is possible (by watching griefing videos from popular teams and reading griefing forums), you will be more able to counter it.

For a much more in-depth (and anti-grief biased) analysis, see Crayboff's thread on the topic.

Anti-Griefing Server Modifications
While there are many people creating grief-friendly client modifications, there are equally dedicated programmers creating server plugins to foil their attempts. Using the popular and extensible Bukkit server software and other Server Mods, programmers have made numerous add-ons to enforce correct client behavior. There are plugins that allow administrators to log and rollback all edits done on an individual basis, employ jails to trap griefers, and even protect certain blocks or entire chunks.

Griefen Vandalisme Грифер