Building & claiming

How land works. There's no auto-claim system. Build it, sign it, it's yours. Etiquette and conventions.

There's no automatic claim system on Sunday Market. You don't /claim a chunk to mark it yours. Land works by community convention: build something on it, sign it, it's recognized as yours.

This is a deliberate design. Auto-claim systems work but they fragment the world (every player walls off a chunk) and discourage ambitious cooperation. Sunday Market trusts the community to handle territory through norms — and steps in with rules and rollback when norms break down.

The convention

"First found, first builds on it" = ownership

If you walk a thousand blocks from spawn and pick a hilltop nobody has touched, build something there, the hilltop is now yours by community recognition. Other players are expected to leave it alone.

This applies to:

Bases — your home, towers, structures
Farms — crops, mob farms, tree farms
Brewing operations — your tavern build
Resource stations — your auto-furnace, your shop, your storage

It doesn't apply to:

Wilderness terrain you haven't built on — claiming "this whole valley is mine" without building anything = no recognition
Public infrastructure — Nether hubs, sign teleporter networks, community spawn-area builds
Spawn or server-built areas — those belong to everyone

"Sign it" makes it explicit

A sign with your name and "MY BASE" or similar removes ambiguity. Other players see the sign and know: this is someone's. Don't grief.

For shared bases (multi-player community), list all owners on the sign. Then everyone knows whose space it is.

Distance matters

The further from spawn you are, the more "yours" the area becomes. A 5,000-block-out base is recognized as deeply yours. A 200-block-from-spawn base is in shared territory; you have less exclusive claim there.

Building etiquette

Don't build on top of someone else's work

If you find a structure-marker (a wall, a path, a sign), assume it's claimed. Build elsewhere. The world is huge.

Don't build directly adjacent without permission

A 50-block buffer is courteous unless you've coordinated. Building literally next-door to someone without asking can feel hostile.

Don't build over wilderness paths

Established travel routes (roads, sign teleporter pads, public paths) shouldn't be blocked. Build along them or off them, not across them.

Don't strip-mine in public-view areas

A 30×30 strip-mined hole near spawn is ugly. Mine in less-visible areas, fill in your strips when you're done, or move further out for big mining ops.

The "1-block-wide pillar to the sky" pattern is a navigation aid for vanilla single-player. On a multiplayer server, it's clutter. Use a torch trail or a sign teleporter pad instead.

Don't lava-cast or grief landscapes

Pouring lava on terrain "to clear it" is destructive. Same with deliberately flooding areas. The world is a shared aesthetic resource.

Mega-builds

For large coordinated builds (towns, communities, major structures):

Coordinate

Talk to the players in the area. Ask if anyone has plans. Pick a location that doesn't conflict.

Stake the perimeter

Place perimeter markers (signs, blocks) so other players see the planned scope.

Document with signs

A sign at the entrance describing the build, the team, and the timeline keeps it legible to other players.

Respect non-mega builders' space

A mega-build doesn't trump a small base that was there first. Coordinate; don't bulldoze.

Ask staff if you want a protected region

For serious community builds (town with multiple residents, public infrastructure with high investment), /helpop to request region protection. Staff can set up a no-griefing zone for it.

What counts as "stuff"

For the purpose of theft and griefing rules:

Blocks you placed — yours
Items in chests you placed — yours
Crops you planted — yours
Mobs you bred — yours (within reason)
A path you cleared — yours by the same logic as a build
Loot in dungeon chests — fair game until someone takes it (not "yours" until then)

Inactivity and abandonment

Sometimes a player builds something, then doesn't log in for months. The base sits there, nominally claimed but unused.

The norm: 30 days of player inactivity weakens the claim. After 30 days:

The build is still respected (don't grief it)
But other players can build in the area without it being a violation
Materials in unlocked chests may be considered abandoned
Locked chests stay locked indefinitely (until staff intervenes by request)

If you're going to be away for a long time, leave a sign explaining: "Active builder, traveling, returning [date]" — and other players will give you the full benefit of the doubt.

Region protection (the formal version)

For builds where the community really needs guarantees (multi-player towns, public infrastructure, builds that took weeks of work):

File a /helpop ticket requesting region protection
Provide the rough coordinates and the requested protected area
Explain why (multi-player base, valuable build, etc.)
Staff evaluates and may set up a formal protected region

This gives the area server-enforced protection — like the spawn protected zone, but smaller and at your specified location. Other players physically can't grief it.

Region protection is not the default. It's reserved for cases where community norms aren't enough — which is most cases not it.

What if I'm griefed

The full process is on Building & griefing rules. Short version:

Document — screenshot of the damage, the time
/helpop — file a ticket with details
Staff investigates — the server has rollback tools that record block changes
Punishment + rollback — if griefing is confirmed, the griefer is sanctioned and the damage is reversed

Why no auto-claim

Three reasons:

Auto-claim fragments the world — every player walls off a chunk, the world becomes a patchwork of private fences
Auto-claim discourages cooperation — easier to wall off "my chunk" than to negotiate a shared community space
Auto-claim limits ambition — a 10×10 chunk claim doesn't let you build a 200-block town

The community-norm system requires more trust but enables more interesting communities. Most players prefer it once they understand how it works.