GriefPrevention — an anti-griefing protection plugin for Minecraft

GriefPrevention allows players to claim territory without an administrator's involvement. The player highlights an area with a golden shovel, and the plugin blocks the breaking and placing of blocks, opening of chests, doors, and buttons within its boundaries for anyone the owner has not given permission to. The claimed area is limited by «claim blocks», which are accumulated during playtime. The plugin has been running since 2011 and is designed for survival servers where territorial conflicts need to be resolved without manual moderation.

Territory claiming

The main tool is a golden shovel. A player hits one corner block of the future plot with it, then the opposite one — the area between them becomes a claim. The size is calculated horizontally; the protection extends to the full height of the column above and below the selected area.

A stick is used to view the boundaries: hitting a block with it shows who owns the adjacent plot. The plugin automatically claims new players' chests in a small radius to protect their starter inventory until they create a full claim.

Claim blocks

The area of claimed plots is limited by the supply of claim blocks. The player receives a starter pool immediately and then accumulates blocks for every hour on the server up to a maximum set by the admin. One plot consumes blocks according to the area formula (length × width). An abandoned plot can be unclaimed with a command — the blocks are returned to the supply.

Trust levels

Access to another person's claim is granted through the trust system. Levels differ in the scope of rights:

Trust can be granted to a specific player, to everyone (public), or only for a single plot. Viewing granted rights is /trustlist, revoking is /untrust <nickname>.

Commands

Configuration

The main parameters are in config.yml, under the GriefPrevention.Claims section. Message texts are moved to a separate messages.yml and translated without editing the code.

GriefPrevention:\n  Claims:\n    InitialBlocks: 100              # starter block supply\n    BlocksAccruedPerHour: 100       # accumulation per hour of play\n    MaxAccruedBlocks: 80000         # supply ceiling\n    AutomaticNewPlayerClaimsRadius: 4 # auto-claim of newcomer's chest\n    MinimumWidth: 5                 # minimum plot width\n    MinimumArea: 100                # minimum area\n

The claiming mode is set separately for each world: in survival worlds, claiming is enabled, in creative or technical worlds, it can be disabled completely.

Conclusion

GriefPrevention solves the basic task of a survival server — protecting buildings and chests without manual admin intervention. Its strength is self-service: players claim and distribute access themselves, the admin only sets the limits in the config. Unlike WorldGuard, which is focused on regions carved out by an administrator, here plots are created by the players themselves with a golden shovel. Limitations — claims are strictly rectangular, without complex polygons, and there is no built-in GUI: everything is controlled by commands and two items. For large RPG servers with complex zoning, WorldGuard is chosen more often, but for classic survival with claims, GriefPrevention is more practical.

Q&A

How to claim territory in GriefPrevention? Take a golden shovel and hit two opposite corners of the plot with it. The area between them will become a claim.

What are claim blocks? It is the area limit. A player gets a starter supply and accumulates new blocks for every hour on the server. The area of all plots cannot exceed the available supply.

How to let a friend build in my claim? The /trust <nickname> command gives full building access. For access only to chests use /containertrust, only for doors — /accesstrust.

Does GriefPrevention need dependent plugins? No, the plugin works independently. Vault is only needed for trading claim blocks for currency.

How does GriefPrevention differ from WorldGuard? In GriefPrevention, players create plots themselves with a golden shovel. In WorldGuard, an administrator carves regions with commands.