Griefing in Minecraft: Everything players need to know

Griefing is an ancient practice that has been present in Minecraft from the moment multiplayer was enabled. In its simplest form, griefing is the purposeful destruction, trolling, and corruption of a Minecraft server. Griefing is not allowed in most servers. However, some servers (anarchy or faction servers) do not have penalties against it.

As seen in the image above, players have intentionally griefed the spawn of the 2b2t anarchy server, which is allowed due to its "no rules" policy. Many players find this type of gameplay attractive, as seen by the popularity of the 2b2t server.

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Griefing techniques in Minecraft

Destruction techniques

A large base being completely griefed by lava (Image via minecraft.fandom)

Due to its long and dark history, players have had time to develop the best ways to grief others. Players are obviously not recommended to grief, unless they have a valid reason.

As seen in the image above, lava is a common way to grief another player's base. With enough lava, the base can be completely covered, which can render it almost impossible to clear out in a timely manner.

TNT is another obvious choice. Players can place a large amount of TNT around a base and light it, doing massive damage to the structure.

The most common reason that players will grief is to steal the other player's or team's items. They will usually wait until the team is offline and then find a way to break into their base.

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Trolling techniques

A portal trap (Image via u/JasonLovesBangin on Reddit)

Besides destruction, players in many anarchy and faction servers will create traps in an attempt to slow down their competition.

A common trap is the portal trap (seen in the image above). These traps work by hoping that players enter a certain portal. Gamers who teleport using this portal will be sent into an obsidian box in which they cannot escape.

Players in these rule-free servers will also commonly spawn kill, which is another way to stop competition. The factions in these servers take their power very seriously and do not want others to gain power.

This video above discusses the first "war" that took place on the 2b2t server in which the first large faction attempted to prevent newer players from gaining power.

The video also explains another offensive griefing technique known as "alternate profiles." Members of a faction will commonly create alternate profiles and attempt to join their enemy's faction. This allows them to be aware of base locations and share that information with their actual faction.

Players who are into the idea of griefing and free-for-all gameplay are highly recommended to try out the 2b2t server. As it is the second oldest Minecraft server in existence, a complete ten-year timeline of the 2b2t server can be seen here.

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