Tutorials/Griefing prevention

Griefing is the act of ruining large or very noticeable portions of other people's creations on a multiplayer Creative or Survival server. It is frowned upon by the majority of Minecraft users because it ruins many hours of work and makes maps untidy. In best case scenarios, the griefer is quickly removed from the server and their damage is trivial to repair. At worst, griefing can destroy an entire server if it does not have backups available.

The most effective way to fight griefers is to have the Admin or an Op regularly monitor players by using the teleport Op command. If a griefer is found, a /kick or /ban command is usually used. Sometimes, a griefer can change their name to evade the ban. If this occurs, an IP ban can be used on the perpetrator's IP address, but griefers can sometimes get past this ban as well by using a proxy to change their IP. When this is the case, it is probably best to create a whitelist for all trusted players or to shut down the server until the griefer gets bored and moves on. A common way to keep griefers from entering a server while no Ops are online is to use Spawn Jails. If built properly, they will ensure no player will be able to enter the map unless an Op lets them. However, some players consider this a rude practice.

Another method is to require emails to be sent to the admin to be able to build. This way, impatient griefers and those who do not read the rules will not be able to edit the map. In addition, if the griefer is caught, the admin can spam the email address and give it to spam sites.

Random Destruction
Random destruction is when a griefer destroys random blocks, putting holes in walls and other structures, making them look broken and messy. Griefers may also target a single structure, working to destroy it completely. If no Ops are present, one way to combat this type of destruction is to repair the damage by hand until the griefer gets bored and leaves. You can also try digging griefers into holes and seal them. Sometimes griefers will use the "Hit & Run" technique. For instance, a griefer will destroy blocks in something and then go away for a moment, then after the player has rebuilt some or all of it the griefer will come back and destroy it again. Sometimes the griefer will do more griefing while waiting, unlike normal griefers, griefers that use the "Hit & Run" technique will take advantage of the time it takes for an operator to get there.

Random Construction
The opposite of random destruction, random construction occurs when a griefer creates random blocks on constructions or anything else on a map, making it look messy. Sometimes they fill up other structures with material like cobblestone. The way to combat this is to remove the extra blocks. Again, continue this until the griefer gets bored and leaves. This type of griefing may not seem as bad as the first, but it can be just as annoying to builders, and as fun to the griefers. Often griefers both destroy and create blocks in their quest to gain enjoyment at the expense of others. Another type of random construction is adding to people's structures and claiming that they're "just making it better."

EXP Bombing
Since 1.8 prerelease 1, a player can collect a lot of EXP by killing many mobs and not dying then dying near a crowded area to drop a smokescreen of EXP orbs that cause severe lag and client or server crashing. These orbs must be removed with a map editing utility.

Map Corrupting
A player can run so far away on the map that the server generates new map. This will lag the server a lot if it is not powerful, and the map file will eventually become so big that the server does not have enough RAM to load it without horrible lag. The best way to combat this is to install anti-cheat and map limiting plugins.

Creative Destruction
With Notch releasing 1.8 another type of destruction has arrived, with the addition of creative mode (gamemode [playername] [1 or 0] griefers can enter creative mode by an op or themselves to start a lot of destruction. Creative allows you to destroy any block so a player can bedrock his building and griefers can still grief it. This is incredibly annoying as a griefer can ruin very large portions or destroy a very big structure in a very little amount of time when in creative mode. Since notch has yet to release another invincible block as Bedrock isn't indestructible anymore so players are stuck with trying to trap/kill the griefer or whitelisting your griefed server to keep him from coming again.

Water Flood
A Water Flood is only applicable to Creative mode, as it uses infinite water. In Alpha and Beta, an attempted flood is very easy to fix. A water flood occurs when a Griefer causes water to spill onto the level, often flooding a good part of it. Normally floods can only occur under sea level as that is the highest water can go, but it is possible to have water higher up using Map Editing. A way to combat this is to make sure Ops safe guard any potentially dangerous bodies of water with Bedrock to prevent the water escaping. Floods can also be prevented by using Sponges, which do not allow water to flow 2 blocks in any direction from the sponge. Hiding sponges in corners of rooms and other structures can prevent the structure from being flooded at all, possibly. If a small and located flood happens, the quickest solution is to gather some helpers and use Sponges to completely remove any water, then remove the sponges. Make sure no water is left behind when removing the sponges however, because 1 block of water can restart the flood again. If the flood is more large scale, have the Admin remove all the water using a Map Editor such as Omen by replacing all the water blocks with air. Another danger of this kind of griefing is the massive lag that occurs on the server during a large water flood. If the flood is large enough, all players will be kicked out of the server due to the lag.


 * As of Beta, sponges can only be obtained through inventory editing, and will not soak up any water, however some mods replenish their ability to do so.

Lava Flood
Similar to a Water Flood, a Lava floods the area with lava instead of water. Lava spreads far slower than water does, so if the flood is caught quickly, it can be stopped before it causes real damage. If no lava has been placed through map editing, floods can only occur deep underground where lava is. However, like water, if lava has been placed high on the map, make sure any pools of lava are protected from flooding by Bedrock. Lava floods can be very dangerous in Alpha or Beta mode for lava will set certain blocks on fire, like Wood and Trees. Lava cannot be removed with Sponges like water can, so the only way to remove it on a Creative server is to either place a block in the lava block's space, or use a map editor.

Stoning
Stoning is a method of griefing in which the griefer uses a bucket of water and a bucket of lava and pours it down a tall mountain or hill. This creates a lot of cobblestone and it is very difficult to remove it.

Repeated stoning and pillaring will form a huge volcano-like structure which not only is hard to clean up but also can infiltrate into areas protected by 3rd-party permission plugins, because they are based on authorization of block placing actions but volcano forming doesn't place blocks in protected areas.



Offensive Constructions
Some griefers grief by writing rude words or drawing offensive symbols everywhere. It's often generally harmless fun, but if a player finds it offensive they can destroy the offending problem, hence the griefer has become the griefed. This is far less of a problem than the others, for some servers are lenient and won't care about what the griefer writes or draws.

Flattening
A relatively rare form of griefing is called Flattening. Flattening happens when a griefer begins to completely level out a map, leaving it totally flat, destroying any structures along the way. Flattening is a rare practice because it takes a long time to accomplish and is usually only done while no Ops are on the server to stop them.

Sanding / Antiquing
Using a bot to spam sand from the highest level of the map will cause the sand to settle on top of the structures below. Doing this creates a very unappealing map for most users. It is difficult to clean up.

Block Edits
Very rare, when a griefer changes one specific block type to another, ruining large sections of peoples projects.

Fires
When a griefer sets a tree on fire, it will spread quickly to all nearby trees, setting the entire forest on fire within a minute. This can be extremely annoying, especially if players were leaving the forest as a permanent logging resource or decoration on the map, or if there is any flammable construction in the way. One way to prevent this type of griefing is by disabling fire spread.

Sometimes griefers target wooden structures instead, setting them on fire. The fire spreads quickly and can destroy even a larger wooden structure within seconds.

However, ever since fire was nerfed in Beta 1.6, this has become less of a problem. A single fire probably won't destroy an entire forest, but may still greatly damage wooden structures.

TNT Abuse
Growingly popular amongst griefers. The griefer stocks up on TNT, then places the TNT beneath Shelters/Models of other players and sets it off, destroying everything in the process. This grief is very annoying as it leaves the land destroyed and unattractive. However, this grief is hard to perform as players would most likely notice the griefer placing TNT. This grief is currently only possible on Alpha or Beta.

"Classy" Griefing
Some people have opinions as to whether some types of griefing are more morally permissible than others. Simple TNT Abuse seems crude and doesn't have as much class as some other types of griefing such as breaking into a highly defended fortress and stealing the chests, but not their contents, undetected. Other, arguably, classy griefs include writing rude words at the height limit in 100 block tall letters; filling creations with Netherrack and lighting it; or wiring somebody else's door into the press of your own doorbell, to name a few.

Some people are happier to be griefed by classier griefs, as it has taken the griefer longer to succeed. For example, leveling out an entire continent takes more time and effort than just blowing it up with TNT. Therefore, the effort of the griefer is more appreciated, and sometimes more accepted as some players see this as a new opportunity to explore something that was generally avoided on due to the amount of work needed.

Others still take a zero-tolerance line on griefing, regardless of the amount of effort they put in, due to the fact that the griefer has still destroyed something that they took time to make themselves.

Creeping/Ghasting
A common form of griefing in SMP is deliberately luring creepers or ghasts to people's creations and making them explode. This destroys people's creations and makes the landscape look unappealing.

Player Jailing
Some griefers do not target structures, but players instead. In this method the griefer will dig holes around the player and make them fall into a hole, and then cover the hole up. Sometimes the griefer will fill up the hole with lava or water. This is even easier when the player is inactive.

Nether Trapping
When Beta 1.6 came out with the Nether, a new method of trapping was introduced. First,the victim logs off, while in the Nether, then the griefer builds on top of where the victim was all the way up to the ceiling, so that when the player logs back on, he or she will be teleported to the first block they can stand at, which mean they will be teleported to the Nether's upper void. At this point, the victim can either be teleported out by an op or use a server plugin to teleport. Digging down is not an option since at the top of the Nether there is bedrock, an invulnerable block. If there is no way for you to teleport away, the only option available to you is the /kill command. Which means you lose any items you had on you until the 1.8 adventure update came out. If you are in creative mode you can dig through the bedrock and fall into lava or onto netherrack and keep all your items from being invincible in this mode.

Portal Trapping (Nether Side)
A second way of trapping in the Nether involves dismantling all the Nether side portals, thus ensuring players can't leave. The griefer then uses the stolen obsidian to make a second portal to escape (often hiding it so the victim can't follow). The only other way out is for the victim to die and respawn on the overworld. re-entering the overworld end portal will re-construct it's counterpart in the nether. (It's possible to drop all your items, throw yourself into lava, and make it back into the Nether to re-collect your items)

Portal Trapping (Overworld Side)
Whilst the victim is in the Nether, the griefer builds a trap around the portal- or encases both open sides with obsidian so the player is trapped within the portal frame. Trapping the player within the frame means that he/she can't re-enter the Nether and use a different portal to escape. The best thing to do is come prepared with a water bucket and a diamond pick.

Tree Bombs
Some griefers will use trees as a trap. Some griefers will make 5 wood block thick trees to lure the victim, in which the victim will step on a pressure plate or something (or the griefer will pull a trigger) and the tree will blow up with hidden TNT.

SMP Diamond Bomb
This type of griefing normally includes hacking, as diamond ore cannot be collected. First, the griefer places diamond ore near the bottom of the map, and wires pressure plates beneath the ore to a TNT bomb. The victim will try to mine the diamond and the TNT bomb will go off, generally either killing the player or letting loose some lava.

Massacre
Killing random players excessively for no reason. Even if PvP is set to false, they can still achieve this by using wolves, Flint and Steel, TNT, Lava, suffocating players with gravel or sand. Even aggresive mobs can be used, by bringing them towards the player.

Fencing
This type of griefing utilized a bug that when you place a fence under stairs or half steps, you are unable to walk on them (now patched). This type of griefing was more of an annoyance than anything else.

Chest Smashing
This type of griefing is common on survival servers. It is when a thief/griefer smashes a chest causing its items to spill on the floor; and with enough chests smashed, all the items on the ground will cause the server to lag horribly. Most griefers who do this are aided by an X-Ray mod.

DoS Attack
The griefer(s) may use a program to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack on the server by flooding it with invalid UDP requests, making it lag horribly or even crash. Simple banning will not get rid of the griefers as the grief happens before they log in. The admin must ban the IP with a firewall. A firewall must be used because you must prevent the griefers packets from reaching your server. If the griefer can change their IP address, there is unfortunately nothing to do except close the server until the attacker is bored.

Tall Grass Spam
With Tall Grass introduced in 1.6, Bone Meal can be used to grow a patch of Tall Grass (and occasionally flowers). This offers a new way for griefers to ruin flat grass maps, yards, spawn points, etc. Although, this type of griefing is rather easy to undo with it being very easy to destroy using Water.

Stealing
This type of griefing is somewhat common on survival servers. Griefers will go into a house, usually when no one is around, and steal items from chests inside the house. To avoid this, players can hide chests under the floor or behind walls, but griefers can still see them if they have an X-ray mod.

Obsidian Abuse
A rare form of griefing which involves blocking off door and mines (and in some cases filling up buildings) with obsidian. This is particularly annoying as obsidian is difficult to remove. This is more common on servers which allow spawning, however a dedicated griefer can still obtain a lot of obsidian through mining.

Tree Spam
A rare form of griefing which involves planting saplings where they're not needed. The griefer will often use dirt blocks and bonemeal to grow trees on the side of buildings, in homes, or down mineshafts. A griefer will often place saplings next to walls and other structures higher than 2 blocks, to grow tall trees -which are harder to remove. Growing leaves also break glass and fences. However this grief also provides the victim with additional resources.

Noise
More irritating than damaging, a griefer wires multiple note blocks and doors into a redstone clock/pulser- so the notes constantly play and doors slam open and shut. A single noteblock and clock can be hidden underground, as sound can pass through any block.

Breaking In
A rare form of griefing when digging catacombs, and breaking in a person's home, the griefer needs at least 20 ladders and 5 of each common block etc. wood, cobblestone, wool, and the griefer will/not need the x-ray mod. This can make a great lag if you pour some water in it.

Hacks and Cheats
Hacks are programs that manipulate Minecraft in a way that was not originally intended by Notch. The ability of these hacks are quite debatable amongst the community. Some servers promote their use, others restrict.
 * Flying: Now in widespread use by both griefers and normal players, this is a common and easy to obtain hack that can allow griefers to easily reach tall structures and begin deconstruction of areas that will be difficult to reach by players lacking this hack.
 * Auto-click: Another common tool of a griefer is the auto-click program. This automatically causes the mouse to click much faster than can normally be done by hand, which allows the player to quickly and messily place or delete blocks.
 * Noclip: Noclip allows players to go walk through solid blocks. This can be used to escape Spawn Jails, and pass though locked doors. This hack can only be used in Classic.
 * X-ray: This allows players to see through blocks and uncover minerals, hidden chests and hidden players, although some servers allow the use of this mod. There is also X-ray texture packs which work like glass. Some servers can restrict the ability of this cheat by a server mod.
 * Night Vision: Allows players to see perfectly clearly, even in pitch darkness. Sometimes mobs and players are highlighted.
 * Nuking: In Beta, some modified clients can perform what is called a 'Nuker'. This can slowly destroy all everything in a 3 block radius from the player. Thus, allowing the player to mine or grief faster.
 * Cave Finding: This works in a similar way to X-Rays. All blocks are hidden except those that are placed next to air (No block).
 * Instant Mine: Players can gain the ability to mine instantly in Beta using hacks.
 * Smokescreen or ".drop": This hack works as a "smoke screen" as it drops all of the blocks selected very rapidly, causing severe lag and frame rate issues. A common strategy for a griefer is to drop the items somewhere hidden near spawn, tell the admins and/or ops to go to spawn, trapping them in the smoke screen leaving the griefer unstoppable. You can counter this by removing all items dropped, but the lag may be so bad that it is impossible to do so.
 * Sneak: This hack allows players' name to be hidden, as if they where holding Sneak all the time, but without the reduced speed. If no ops are present, this can allow a griefer to grief in plain sight, with players watching him, without the players being able to tell who the griefer is.

Social Engineering
Social Engineering is when a griefer manipulates players into thinking that they are decent and trustworthy players, as well as directing the blame of griefing to someone else. This sort of griefer is significantly more dangerous than others due to their ability to blend in with innocent and trusted players. This can cause confusion throughout the server and can even cause un-deserved bans on other players. If the griefer is very dedicated to a server, they may even become an Op. When this happens, they can use their power to de-op all other ops and ban them, and can then grief as much as they please without anyone to stop them. If this worst case scenario occurs, the Admin can use operator commands through the server's console to de-op the griefer and re-op themselves.

Time
Some griefers will wait in a server, pretending to be away, or return to it when there are no ops, mods, or admins online, at which point they could destroy as much as they please until another mod, op or admin logs in. However, an op or admin can use /list to see who is on the server and ban any known griefers.

Bots
Bots are very uncommon and sometimes attack in swarms. Not much is known about exactly how they work or their full capabilities, but bots are very dangerous and are generally only employed if a specific server has been "targeted". Bots are programs that take control of an account they've logged into and can act very human-like. It is suspected that if an Op is getting suspicious toward the bot, the hacker can speak for the bots when they are questioned. Bots come complete with many automatic actions that can instantaneously create pyramids or massive holes in any structure; they also fly around and employ random destruction griefing. IP banning and kicking are useless as the bots can switch IPs and account names in seconds and come right back. The only real defense is to shut down the server and wait until they don't come back.

 Some of the behaviors bots have been seen to exhibit are
 * Not speaking unless spoken to, such as not asking to be let out of a spawn jail.
 * Using long names (e.g., a32hr6et4u2bdjw882) that are difficult to type. With many commands from server plugins, typing only the first few characters of a username works.
 * Frequent jumping, although this is exhibited by many human players as well.
 * No clear purpose or destination, they wander (many human players do this as well, to explore the server's existing creations).
 * Sometimes, multiple bots will not have any custom skins. They may also try to "bury" players by placing blocks around them or above them to prevent escape, and then filling the small place the tapped player or players are in with lava to kill them, or with water to hinder their movement. There are multiple videos of this on YouTube happening to innocent players. Usually, other players will come along and try to free the trapped players.
 * Claiming that other players are bots and telling them to log off. This is rare.
 * Claiming that other players are bots and telling them to log off. This is rare.

Blaming
The most common thing a griefer does after his handiwork is discovered while he's not in there is to usually act innocent and point out players that were passing by the area; or those without a customized skin and/or usernames with numbers (ej. Coolguy28) since they tend to be suspicious. Lots of videos in YouTube show how griefers don't get discovered in a long time and their actions get other users banned. However, admins with a plugin that lets them see who edited blocks recently can discover the true griefer.

Griefer swarms
While one griefer can be bad, on occasions they may attack in groups. Sometimes a member of the swarm blames other griefers in the group to avoid being caught. They can also attack rapidly, typically abusing vote bans to clear out the server if vote bans exist on the server. A typical sign is about four people (four is a common vote ban threshold) joining at once, but that can be a coincidence. The swarm also provides the problem of taking longer to ban, although the server can be shut down quickly to stop any griefing. Shutting down the server is the easiest, and quickest, way to stop or hinder griefers. Normally the griefer swarm is in a team, and they will normally attempt to flatten a landscape by drilling through dirt on the classic maps. Some griefer swarms may even have a hacker who can flood lava across the map, typically killing any low-land players and animals. Griefer swarms can sometimes, but rarely, appear in groups of 20 or more.

Fighting against griefers
Fighting against griefers is almost impossible if an Op or an admin isn't online, but when they are, there are some simple things you can do to combat them. If PvP (Player versus Player) is enabled, you are able to kill the griefer. It is recommended to bring a Weapon to do so. If stronger force is needed to prevent griefing any further, an Op or a person of equivalent rank can kick or ban the player. They may also ban the IP Address of the player if they use multiple accounts. However, if the person knows how to change their IP Address, this will have no effect.

Jails
Jails (also called Griefer Cells) are particularly useful. It is a small cell, made anywhere you like, made out of bedrock with a bedrock floor as well. If there are any known griefers on the server, simply get an Op to get the griefer inside then place bedrock. The griefer will then get stuck inside the jail and will not be able to get out. To let the griefer out, an Op needs to teleport the griefer to themselves. Note that (unless you use server modifications) every time you jail someone, you will have to construct a new jail.

Counter-griefing
In extremely rare occasions, griefers can also build structures like any normal Minecraft player. If the person knows who the griefer is, they can counter-grief his constructions for revenge. If the griefer is still unknown, admins can help to see who altered various blocks recently (if they have the corresponding plugin) and sometimes, the admins and/or OPs can even grief the structures themselves if the server has strict rules. However, griefing back is also seen by some users to be as bad as the original griefing.

Protecting
Some plugins "protect" structures within a certain area so no blocks can be added or quitted except by the original builder and/or an op or Admin. Also, these sort of plugins can prevent doors from being opened, explosions to have effect, or chests to be opened or broken. This method is particularly useful against griefers since there's a lot less options for them. However, they still can destroy the ground below the structure, or use hacks to counter this plugin. The only method against that is to quickly discover the griefer before he can actually ruin everything.

Monitoring
Some servers "hire" people to check on any new user and follow them around until the person looks reliable. These "policemen" usually have commands to aid them in case the user tried anything. However once they leave the person can start griefing. Then once again this can be fought if the admin has powers to see recent changes on the server and revert them if possible.

Disabling
Most popular on Creative servers, disabling quits the ability of any new user to destroy or place blocks until given permission. The effectivity of this is high enough since most griefers only come and go to a server for a few hours or less and never come back (however there are some griefers that do it on a daily routine until they are discovered, but even after that they can change accounts and keep coming).

Whitelisting
Useful if the server is about a small group of people. Any non-whitelisted user will be restricted from certain actions until he proves his reliability. But then again, this is proven not enough to impede upcoming griefs.

Law system
Some servers believe in the law system and thus any person suspected of griefing will be put in a jail where he is restricted to alter any block and thus, if the person tries to flee, he is banned and thus proves that he is, in fact, a griefer. However if they wait for their time on jail to end patiently, they are proven innocent. Most griefers are impatient and thus, this method works well.

Griefen Vandalisme