On any server, you can build and others try to destroy. And vice versa. Even plot worlds have their share of griefers who join groups and destroy weeks later. 

Servers try their best to limit griefers: backups, rollbacks, and moderators

Others don't care. 

My questions are deeper: Is the cycle of creation and destruction in minecraft meant to be?
Are all Minecraft creations meant to be destroyed? Or do some deserve to be immortal? 
Are griefers actually playing a vital role in the game? 

(And, yes, I'm a server admin who has banned Griefers countless times and has lost hours upon hours of work building.)

I think that all structures are supposed to one day die down like real life structures. They need to clear the room for more. It really isn't great to have people come in and destroy it. All the work you put in. They should be banned.

It really depends on the server. On some servers you're supposed to grief and on others you aren't.
Every structure is meant to stay until someone destroys it. It's how minecraft is supposed to be. Griefers make the game fun. If no one would destroy your creation then there would be no point to it. If you want to make a creation that lasts forever then you'll have to think more carefully about who you want to work on it with. Or you can make a structure to see if anyone would grief it and kick the person who griefed it. Then make a better one with the people you trust.

In Minecraft, every structure is bound to be destroyed, just like in real life. If every structure ever constructed, both in minecraft and in real life, stood up forever, they'd start looking terrible with all the degration and they'd take up a massive amount of space. Humanity, as well as servers can't survive with that lack of space and CPU space. So, in a way, greifers are actually helping out with server stability.

In a way, that's why I created this thread. 

I've always hated griefers with a passion, but after taking a step back I realized that they might be an integral part of the game.

Looks like I'm not the only one who has reached that conclusion.

Also, I really enjoy thinking about a cycle of creation and destruction, it definitely puts things into perspective.

EideticMemory :


I've been working on rules for a Minecraft build and battle tournament, and the rules are like this.


1 People divide into teams and groups

2 teams and groups work together to build structures and mine materials

3 on a predetermined day, a battle will be held between the team, usually a capture the flag type game.

4 After the damage is done, turn off the Xbox 360 without saving. That way the damage done isn't permanent, and doesn't take hours to fix.

5 rinse and repeat.

This system allows mass destruction, but also rewards hard work and doesn't set back hours of work permanently for the sake of a battle. The best thing that you can do is get an enchanting table, enchant metal armor and a bow. Then you'll have a huge edge when the day of the battle comes. that pretty much all that there is to it. Although, before the day of the battle, we all usually help each other build each others structures and get to the nether, cause we can and it's fun to all work together before the Capture the flag tournament.


Actually, lava buckets work out pretty well as suicide, or death weapons. Just dump a source block in the main room of your enemies castle! XD

well...not everything could last forever. So structures will be destroyed one day.....so the cycle of destruction and creation is meant to be. (just rebuild your structure)

I believe that everything has its building time, and its destruction time, so it must be a cycle or else everything would be built on top of and Minecraft would be Buildcraft.

Minecraft is for building. If someone destroyed all of my Minecraft creations, I would probably not speak to them for a long time.

Here's my view.

*build build build build build* TEE ENN TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE *build build build build build* TEE ENN TEEEEEEE

Generally, it's me TNTing the crap out of my own buildings. I've never griefed on purpose. Still, without destruction, there can be no rebuilding (often with redesigning that people enjoy more anyway).

TEE ENN TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Just as there are builders, there are those that destroy.

Griefers server a huge purpose in the game of Minecraft, and I'm not just saying that because I like destroying things.

If griefers didn't exist, you'd build and build and build until you had no room to build.

Then, you'd be confused, and start building on top of your buildings, making what may have been a beautiful palace once an ugly jarring skyscraper.

Griefers save you from yourselves.

You should thank them.

I went for cycle, because if everyone was a greifer, there'd be no buildings, and if everyone was a designer, there'd be too much competition between the players, and the game wouldn't be as fun.