Every server that grows past its founding group eventually has the conversation. Someone’s base got broken into, and now the options are a claims system, a whitelist, or accepting it.
Claims are the usual answer and they are also the one most likely to be configured badly, because the failure mode is not griefing – it is a map full of locked rectangles that nobody can build near.
What a claims mod actually does
It assigns chunks to players and blocks other players from modifying blocks, opening containers or interacting inside them. The good implementations also let the owner grant exceptions, so a claim is a default rather than a wall.
Open Parties and Claims is the reference implementation on the mod side. It handles chunk claims and forceloading, adds a party system so groups can share access, and gives server owners controls over how much any one player can claim. It integrates with Xaero’s minimap and world map, so claims are visible on the map rather than discovered by bumping into them.
It reached 26.3 across Fabric, NeoForge and now Forge, with the Forge port landing on 20 September. Client optional, server required – so players do not have to install it, though they get the map integration if they do.
The three settings that decide everything
Claim limit per player. Too low and people cannot protect a reasonable base. Too high and the map fills. A limit somewhere in the low double digits of chunks per player works for most servers, and it should scale with how long the server has been running rather than being set once.
Whether claims expire. A player who leaves after a week should not hold ground for a year. Expiry after a period of inactivity is the single most important setting on a server with turnover, and it is frequently left off.
Forceloading. Claims mods often let players keep chunks loaded. That is a performance decision disguised as a convenience feature – every forceloaded chunk is permanent server load. Limit it hard or turn it off.
The failure mode nobody plans for
Claims solve griefing and create a land problem. Six months in, the area around spawn is entirely claimed, half of it by players who stopped logging in, and a new player has to walk 2,000 blocks to find somewhere to build.
Three things prevent it, and all three have to be decided before the first claim is made.
- Expiry on inactivity, so abandoned land returns.
- A no-claim radius around spawn, kept as common ground.
- A claim limit low enough that nobody can fence a region.
Retrofitting any of these onto a server where people already hold land is a political problem rather than a technical one, which is why the defaults matter so much.
Claims versus a whitelist
A whitelist prevents the problem instead of managing it. If everyone on the server was let in by someone who vouched for them, griefing is rare enough that claims are overhead rather than protection.
The trade is growth. A whitelisted server does not grow beyond the social network of its members, and that is either exactly what you wanted or the reason the server dies. Our notes on vetting cover running one properly.
The honest guidance: under about fifteen players who know each other, use a whitelist and skip claims entirely. Above that, or if the server is public, claims are not optional.
Backups are the actual protection
Claims stop casual griefing. They do not stop a trusted player doing damage, an admin mistake, or a mod update corrupting a region file.
A rolling backup you have actually tested restoring is what turns any of those from a disaster into an afternoon. Claims are a convenience layer on top of that, not a replacement for it, and a server with claims and no backups is worse protected than one with backups and no claims – the routine is in the backup notes.
Platform notes
On the plugin side, Paper servers have a mature set of claim plugins with years of tuning behind them. On the mod side the selection is smaller and the options are newer, which is one of the real trade-offs in choosing server software and worth weighing before you commit.
Open Parties and Claims is still described as beta by its author despite 22.3 million downloads. LGPL-3.0 licensed, so modpack inclusion is unrestricted, and its API supports rank-based claim limits through LuckPerms, FTB Ranks and the loader permission APIs if you want limits that vary by player.
Short version
- Small trusted group: whitelist, no claims.
- Public or growing: claims, with expiry on and a spawn exclusion zone.
- Set the limits before the first claim, not after.
- Restrict forceloading regardless.
- Back up anyway. Claims are convenience, backups are protection.
Images: Rustic Delight project gallery.