For PvE servers This seems a little far-fetched, but why not hire a developer or find an existing mod to disable the ability to destroy objects other than your own unless you're given special permissions? *Or, maybe a mod/plugin where you can buy claim flags at a really expensive price (i.e 75% of your starting bits) that will act as protection and only you can build there. The price would be there to prevent spam, and you can't build outside of that zone. This would also prevent trapping.
We had a plugin that did exactly this. People would trap other players and kill them, dismantle their structure, and take their loot. We also had problems of people building on structures and other players being unable to access the area, etc... demo team was left to deal with it, 24/7. 'Twas a bad idea.
But I'm referring to the PvE servers...I don't know of any ways to trap and 'kill' the player. Maybe a mod where you can buy claim flags at a really expensive price (i.e 75% of your starting bits) that will act as protection and only you can build there. The price would be there to prevent spam, and you can't build outside of that zone. This would also prevent trapping.
No mod needed to prevent griefing, however, a player can get trapped and they cannot salvage it. This was removed because this is something we did not foresee and was an awesome idea. Now I have been looking at regions, however, it's still limited.
Claim flags and no-griefing rules do not prevent griefing, just like laws do not prevent red light runners and homicides. The rules do discourage a few and they do allow us to remove the offenders. Nelson does not want players in PvE to have unbreakable structures and barricades or he would have implemented it long ago. We did test anti-griefing and one of the possibilities I brought up was players being trapped by a new breed of griefer. It did happen. Within a day and a half our maps were littered with junk unbreakable by players and barely breakable by the DemoTeam. Players were boxed in, trapped in their own base and towns, buildings and spawns were blocked off. It became a bully-griefer convention. We had to remove the anti-grief experiment. Currently there is no one-size-fits-all answer. We stay the way we are and fight griefers based on the rules or go anti-grief and have trapped players and littered, crashing maps every few days.
With all due respect, please read the post thoroughly. I didn't say anything about the vanilla game or what Nelson wants. Although, I do know that Nelson encourages the use of mods and plugins. I'm fully aware of the trapping and such, and there are, in fact, ways to prevent that which I stated in the post and will restate below. I never said anything about rules and never said that claim flags do that. Rather, I said a good idea would be a mod (modification) to make claim flags protect your stuff, and making them expensive to prevent spam and/or abuse. What are the chances of someone actually spending half their bits just to trap you? How often do people get trapped, and why? Where can we store our stuff if the server can't protect it? It's an important topic. Remember, it's just an idea. There's no need to discourage anyone, but building onto the idea is greatly appreciated.
I like the regions idea. Setting a limited amount of area a player can claim and build inside of would be perfect. Although, maybe restrict some areas such as towns, cities, Silo 22, military bases, etc. to prevent abuse. I understand this stuff can't just be "done," but it's a possibility if you have developers willing to help. I'm just making ideas.