What keeps a server alive is rarely the hardware; it is whether players feel comfortable there. Short, fair rules that everyone knows cut arguments off early and make your staff's job easier. This guide covers how to write rules, how to enforce them and how to run the community as it grows.
Three qualities of a good rule list
- It is short. Nobody reads a twenty-item list. Eight to ten rules are enough for most servers.
- It is measurable. "Be respectful" is a good intention but can't be enforced on its own. "Swearing, insults and attacks on someone's family are not allowed" is a rule a staff member can actually rule on.
- It is enforceable. Don't write a rule you can't check. On a server where no staff member is online at night, a "no noise at night" rule only exists on paper.
A sample rule list
A starting list you can adapt to your own server:
- Swearing, insults, discrimination and threats are not allowed.
- Destroying or changing someone else's build, or emptying their chests, without permission (griefing) is not allowed.
- Cheat clients that change how the game plays, and vision cheats such as X-ray, are not allowed.
- Exploiting bugs in the server or the game is not allowed; report any you find to the staff.
- Advertising other servers is not allowed.
- Flooding the chat with the same message (spam) is not allowed.
- Asking for or sharing personal information (address, phone number, school) is not allowed.
- Appeals against staff decisions go through the dedicated channel, not the public chat.
Writing the rules once isn't enough; new players need to see them in their first minute. A sign at spawn, a short reminder in the server list description (MOTD) and a pinned message on your Discord server, if you have one, are the three most effective places.
A ladder of penalties
Giving the same penalty for every offence is either unfair or ineffective. A ladder announced in advance removes the feeling that staff act on a whim:
- Warning: for first and minor offences, a reminder of the rule.
- Mute: a few hours of mute for chat offences.
- Temporary ban: a ban of a few days for repeated offences or harmful behaviour such as griefing.
- Permanent ban: for cheating, serious harassment or repeating the offence after a temporary ban.
Adding a note that "steps may be skipped for serious offences" lets you, for example, ban someone using a cheat client straight away.
No penalty without evidence
Before you punish a player you should be able to show what happened. For destruction and chest theft, CoreProtect shows who did what, block by block. For chat offences, the server log is in the panel's console screen and in the log files. A screenshot on its own is weak evidence; back it up with a log when you can.
Evidence also makes it easier to explain the penalty to the player. "Our logs show you broke the wall of this house at nine yesterday" usually ends the argument in one sentence.
Choosing staff and splitting permissions
As the server grows you can't keep up with everything alone. When choosing staff, pick the calmest and fairest player rather than the one who plays the most. Hand out permissions gradually: it's enough for a new helper to be able to mute players; ban and rollback rights come as trust grows. We cover setting up ranks and permissions step by step in our LuckPerms guide.
A small written agreement among your staff helps: which step applies to which offence, who can make which decision, and what happens when two staff members disagree about the same player.
Keep an appeal channel open
Wrong penalties are unavoidable. What matters is that the player has a place to report it calmly: a separate channel on Discord or an email address. When an appeal is reviewed by someone other than the staff member who gave the penalty, the decision is fairer, and the community notices.
Safety for young players
A large share of players on Minecraft servers are young. Banning the sharing of personal information, taking seriously a player who reports being harassed in private messages, and suggesting they talk to their family when needed are essential for the community's safety. State clearly in your rules that asking for someone's age, school or address in chat is not allowed.
Keep the rules up to date
As the community changes, the rules change too. When you add a rule or change a penalty, announce it, and don't apply it retroactively to events from before the change. Writing the date of the last update at the end of the rules removes any argument about who read which version.