How to Set Up GriefPrevention, Claim System Guide

GriefPrevention is the most widely used claim plugin in Minecraft server history, and for good reason. It lets players protect their own land using a golden shovel, no admin intervention needed. Claims accrue automatically over playtime, trust levels give fine-grained access control, and the whole system is intuitive enough that new players figure it out within minutes. This guide covers installation, configuration, player-facing mechanics, and the admin tools you will need to manage edge cases.

What GriefPrevention does

At its core, GriefPrevention creates rectangular claim regions that prevent other players from breaking blocks, placing blocks, opening containers, killing animals, or using redstone devices inside the claimed area. The claiming process is entirely player-driven, the server owner installs and configures the plugin, but players decide where and how large their claims are.

Each player earns claim blocks passively over time. More playtime means more claim blocks, which means larger or more numerous claims. This creates a natural progression: new players start with a small plot, and veterans accumulate enough blocks to claim huge territories. Admins can also grant bonus blocks via commands.

Installing GriefPrevention

1. Download GriefPrevention.jar from the official SpigotMC resource page or the Modrinth mirror. Make sure the version matches your server version (Paper 1.21.x uses the latest GP release).
2. Drop the jar into your server's plugins/ folder.
3. Restart the server. GriefPrevention generates its config files in plugins/GriefPreventionData/.
4. The plugin works out of the box with sensible defaults. No additional dependencies are required, though it integrates with Vault if you want to charge money for claim blocks.

How claims work

A player creates a claim by holding a golden shovel and right-clicking two opposite corners. The first click marks corner one (shown with a glowstone block), the second marks corner two (diamond block). The claim extends from bedrock to build height, so there is no vertical configuration to worry about.

Alternatively, the plugin automatically creates a small claim around the first chest a player places. This protects new players before they even learn the claim system. The auto-claim size is configurable (default is a 9x9 area).

Players can check their claim block balance and existing claims with:

/claimlist        , shows all your claims with coordinates and sizes
/claimslist       , (alias) same thing
/trapped          , teleports you out if you are stuck in someone else's claim

Configuring claim block rates

Open plugins/GriefPreventionData/config.yml and look for these key settings:

Claims:
  InitialBlocks: 100            # blocks given on first join
  BlocksAccruedPerHour: 100     # passive earning rate
  MaxAccruedBlocks: 80000       # cap on passively earned blocks
  MinimumWidth: 5               # smallest claim width
  MinimumArea: 100              # smallest claim area (width x length)
  MaximumDepth: 0               # 0 = claim reaches bedrock

Tuning these values depends on your server style. Economy survival servers might lower the accrual rate and sell claim blocks via the shop to create a money sink. Casual SMPs often increase it so players can protect large builds quickly. A rate of 100–200 blocks per hour is a reasonable starting point for most communities.

You can also grant bonus blocks that do not count against the accrual cap:

/adjustbonusclaimblocks PlayerName 5000  , adds 5000 bonus blocks
/setaccruedclaimblocks PlayerName 10000  , sets accrued total directly

Trust levels explained

GriefPrevention has four trust levels, each granting progressively more access. The claim owner uses these commands while standing inside their claim:

Command	Level	What it allows
/accesstrust Player	Access	Use buttons, levers, pressure plates, doors, and beds
/containertrust Player	Container	Everything above, plus open chests, furnaces, brewing stands, and other inventories
/trust Player	Build	Everything above, plus place and break blocks
/permissiontrust Player	Manager	Everything above, plus grant trust to others

Use /untrust Player to revoke all trust from someone, or /untrust all to revoke public access. You can trust public instead of a specific player name to open the claim to everyone at that level, useful for community farms or shops.

The trust hierarchy matters: giving someone /trust does not also grant /permissiontrust. Each level is explicitly assigned, and only the claim owner and permission-trusted players can modify access.

Admin claims

Server administrators can create admin claims that are not owned by any player and do not consume claim blocks. These are ideal for protecting spawn areas, event arenas, public farms, and server infrastructure. Toggle admin claim mode with:

/adminclaims

While in admin claims mode, every claim you create with the golden shovel becomes an admin claim. Toggle it off when done to return to normal claiming. Admin claims can be trusted just like player claims, use /trust while standing inside one to let specific players or groups build there.

For spawn protection, an admin claim is better than the vanilla spawn-protection setting because it integrates with the trust system. You can allow certain ranks to build in spawn while keeping others restricted, using LuckPerms groups with GP's permission nodes.

Subdivisions

A claim owner can divide their claim into subdivisions with different trust settings. This is useful for shared builds, say you and three friends have a town, but each player wants their house private while keeping the roads and town center public.

/subdivideclaims

This switches your golden shovel to subdivision mode. Click two corners inside an existing claim to carve out a subclaim. The subclaim inherits the parent's default trust unless you override it. Click inside the subclaim and use /trust to set specific permissions for that section.

Toggle back to normal mode with /basicclaims.

Visualizing claims

Right-click any block with a stick to see the claim boundaries at that location. The plugin renders the outline using gold blocks and glowstone at the corners. This works for both your own claims and other players' claims. Admins can also use:

/claiminfo       , shows claim details at your feet (owner, area, trust list)
/claimslist      , lists all claims for a specific player (admin version)

GriefPrevention vs WorldGuard

Both plugins protect areas, but they serve different purposes. GriefPrevention is player-facing: it lets players self-serve their own protection. WorldGuard is admin-facing: regions are created manually with WorldEdit selections and configured by staff.

Most servers benefit from running both. Use GriefPrevention for player land claims and WorldGuard for server-managed areas like spawn, arenas, dungeons, and restricted zones. They do not conflict with each other, GP checks its claims first, and WorldGuard checks its regions independently.

Common issues

• "You don't have permission to build here", the player is standing in someone else's claim and has not been trusted. Use a stick to visualize the claim and find the owner.
• Players cannot build anywhere, check if there is a massive admin claim covering the entire map. New admins sometimes accidentally create one while in admin claims mode.
• Claim blocks not accruing, the player may have hit MaxAccruedBlocks. Check with /claiminfo and grant bonus blocks if needed.
• Explosions destroying claimed areas, GP blocks creeper and TNT damage inside claims by default. If it is not working, verify Claims.ExplosionProtection is true in the config.
• Mob spawning inside claims, GP does not control mob spawning. Pair with WorldGuard's mob-spawning flag or a dedicated mob management plugin for that.

GriefPrevention works well alongside CoreProtect for a complete protection stack, GP prevents grief, and CoreProtect catches anything that slips through.

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