//------------------------------//
// Minecraft admin, Game 2; Scam 
// Story: Let's play some games with Leon, Luna, and Eddy 
// by Fireheart 1945 
//------------------------------//

	It was another beautiful day in Minecraft. The sun was shining, the land was green and wholesome, and the zombies and skeletons were burning in the sunlight. 

Leon stood on one of the battlements of the castle overlooking the server's initial spawn area. It nice to know the server was progressing quite well. Many people had joined. Most were sincere players who really wanted to have fun. Besides the spleefing stadium, there were also areas for survival games and an enormous PVP arena that he had helped to build. The town not far from the castle was where most players "lived" and stored their equipment. 

Yes, things were going quite well. Still, there had been numerous players who's only real intention was to grief and troll, and he, Luna, and Eddy didn't put up with that. He had recently banned a player who had killed someone else, then threw their stuff into lava after they had come back for it. Another person had gotten an IP ban for griefing the spleefing stadium with lava while a major tournament was in play.  

"Seems like a slow grief day," he remarked to Luna over the headset.. 

"Indeed, but would you rather someone destroy the town, or x-ray, for that matter?" 

"I would rather have people play decently. It feels like while we're sitting here, someone's up to no good somehow." 

"They will be up to no good during the survival games we have scheduled for later." 

He chuckled at that. Yes, that event would prove interesting. And the admins and mods would have to be on alert for people who were cheating or abusing the rules, so maybe something would happen during that time. He doubted it. Most of the troublemakers got banned or kicked before they had a chance to cause trouble. 

"Oh, someone new just logged on." 

"Hmm?" Leon looked at the chat. A new player by the name of "Leetman" had joined the server. 

"I guess we can go greet them, whoever they are." He teleported over to the new player, who was in a Steve skin. 

"Welcome to our server," he typed. "I hope you'll have a great time here." 

"Hi, I'm from Planet Minecraft, and I'm here to review the server." 

If Luna had been sitting beside him, Leon would have looked over at her. "I think I know what's coming next," he said out loud. 

"Yes, this must be the third time this month," she said back. 

"Sure enough, the next thing Leetman typed was, "I require OP status in order to properly review the server." 

"Called it," Leon said. In the game, he typed back, "Didn't you read the rules?" 

"No." 

"Read them. Rule 1 clearly states not to ask for OP, mod, admin, or owner status for any reason." 

"I'm from Planet Minecraft. That means I can overrule that." 

Oh, rly? 

"Anyway, I need OP status to check plugins and commands to make sure the game is running ok." 

"Ugh," Leon said. He hadn't had to deal with this scam much - this month - but it went the same way each time. Someone would demand OP status to gain most, if not all, the powers of an admin or moderator. They would also claim to be from Planet Minecraft in order to have a "valid" claim for what they were asking. And they would do it under the pretense of reviewing the server. 

Well, the first time that had happened was just after he and Luna had become admins. Some guy claimed to be from Planet Minecraft, claimed he was reviewing the server, and said he needed OP status. The owner had done so, hoping perhaps to make the server popular and gain more players. 

That hadn't happened. What had happened was that that the new OP had immediately banned everyone with owner, admin, or mod status and proceeded to TNT everything in their absence. When the owner had finally managed to get back on, the main city had been obliterated, the spleef arena had been burned down by a massive lava flow, and spawn had been turned entirely to lava, so the owner, Leon, and Luna had died the moment they'd returned. 

Needless to say, the griefer immediately got IP-banned, and it took a while to repair the damage, especially where possessions were concerned; although rollback plugins could undo changes by specific players, they could not replace items that were in destroyed chests, especially enchanted items. Several players had left the server, and most hadn't returned. 

Something like that wasn't about to happen again. 

"Read the rules," he said again. "Anyone asking for mod status will be denied. If you want to have fun on the server, go ahead and do so, as long as you don't grief or hack." 

"This server has a 2/10 rating so far. I require OP status to evaluate it better. If it's really bad, I'm afraid I'll have to close it down." 

"I was wondering when he was going to pull out that excuse," Luna commented. 

"Indeed." 

"It's probably someone who had no idea what to do on a real computer. Why not trick him into deleting system 32?" 

"No." Leon shook his head, even though she couldn't see it. "that would be destroying someone else's property."

"And you would rather we do nothing?" 

"I would rather we have some fun with him before banning him," Leon suggested. 

"Oh, you mean like..." 

"Yes." In the game, he typed, "Well, I suppose we have little choice." 

"I'm glad you saw reason," the scammer replied. "I require OP status immediately." 

"Ok then," Leon typed. "I'll see about that." 

He typed in a command that would say "Leetman is now OP!" but wouldn't actually give him any powers. He hit the enter key. 

"Thank you. I will now need some time to evaluate the server." 

"Okay," Leon said, walking behind a building and typing in the command that made him invisible. He didn't intend to let this guy out of his sight for a moment. 

"No! Don't give him OP!" Rainbow Dash said in chat. "He'll ruin the server!" 

He private messaged her; "I didn't really give him OP; we'll have fun with him and then ban him." 

He followed the newcomer for some distance. The guy didn't seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary... 

...Until he came to the main city. Leetman looked it over. Leon had seen this kind of "evaluation" before; it was the prelude to a grief. 

"Alert; player Leetman tried to use command /ban Fireheart," flashed a red script in the chat. Considering that was his own in-game name, Leon wasn't surprised. Only he and Luna would have seen it; the average player would have had no idea that this guy had just tried to ban him. 

"Alert; player Leetman tried to use command /give Leetman 64 TNT." 

"Well, that does it. This guy is definitely trying to grief," Leon noted. 

"Do you want to ban him now?" 

"Nah, let's keep having fun." 

"Hey why aren't my commands working?" the now-obvious griefer asked. 

"Oh, they aren't?" Leon typed the command /kill Leetman, though he didn't hit the enter button yet. "Hold on." He hit the key. 

An announcement came up saying "Leetman died." 

"WTF?" 

"Sorry, wrong command. Hold on." 

"Oh, let me try this time," Luna begged, sounded excited. 

"Okay." Leon watched as her in-game avatar rose high into the air. Several seconds later Leetman joined her; without OP powers, he fell to the ground and died. 

"You guys are idiots! You're getting a 0/10 unless you give me OP now! And I'll shut down the server!" 

"Hmm. Let me try this." Leon typed /kick player Leetman (You aren't getting OP. Enjoy the server or leave.) 

Leetman left the game. 

"Do you think he's dumb enough to come back?" The Princess inquired. 

"I think he's going to try at least one more time, then he'll try griefing in the usual way." 

Sure enough, the scammer came back on a moment later. "Give me OP, NOW, or I will close the server down." 

"Try it," Leon said provocatively. 'You don't have the power. You're trying to grief; I saw the commands you gave, trying to ban me and give yourself TNT." 

"I needed to test the commands and whether the server was running under realistic circumstances." 

At that, Leon laughed so hard he was surprised no one but Luna could hear him, and she was laughing fit to burst. This was a game, and a rather blocky one at that. Reality was not part of the game's design. Oh, sure, some things were realistic, such as gunpowder and minecarts, both things that existed in the real world, but Creepers, Skeletons, and Endermen knocked reality in the game for a loop. 

"LOL!" 

"HA HA!" 

"ROFL!" 

"Busted!" 

"I'm giving you one, very last, chance to enjoy the server," he typed as he calmed down. "Enjoy the game, and if you can't, then leave. Otherwise, we'll make you leave. Do you understand? We wouldn't care even if you actually were from Planet Minecraft; the only way you become an admin on here is through a history of following the rules and working hard." 

For a minute, the epic Steve face stared back at him, not moving. Then, no doubt reluctantly, the player said, "Okay. But can I at least have a tour?" 

So he's sticking to the whole review thing, Leon thought. In that case, this guy probably hadn't given up on his idea of griefing. Still, he decided to play along. "Alright, but no more asking or demanding OP, got it?" 

"Yes." 

"Good." To Luna, he asked, "Can you follow us, invisible, and watch in case he tries to pull something while I'm not watching?" 

"Will do." 

"Thanks." Back in the game, he said," Okay, this way." He led Leetman through the streets of the town. "This city was founded about a year ago," he began, "when the server became popular and people started to join in big numbers. As you can see, we built obsidian walls around it to keep monsters out, and we have ladders for people to climb up on so that they can practice their archery on any that come close. There is a bank and a store in the town center, and a large tower in the corner of the city wall where people who break the rules but haven't caused any real damage are jailed for a few days before we release them." 

He continued on to the castle overlooking the town. "This castle was actually built after most of the basic buildings in the city were completed. It's where I live in the game, and it's where we store many diamond weapons, so it doubles as an arsenal in times of need." 

"He's leaving you," Luna alerted him. "No, don't turn around. I'll follow him and see where he goes. You should act as if nothing's amiss." 

"Got it." Leon did as she had instructed. "We've built other, secondary towns where necessary," he continued as if the tour was still going. "Some players have constructed elaborate, underground bases for PVP purposes, such as raiding. A few built elaborate plantations, though most prefer the smaller apartment buildings and houses in the towns, as houses outside the walls are common targets for creepers and Endermen, not to mention some people like to raid such houses for anything of value. It's players like that who end up in jails if we catch them; while underground bases are legit for raiding, buildings like big mansions are off-limits." 

Leon wiped the sweat off his brow. "What's he doing?" 

"He's going right for the Combat arena." 

"Well, wait until he breaks something before we jail him." 

"Okay. I suppose you can join me now, as long as you remain invisible and keep up the dialogue." 

Leon did as Luna had told him to. Now invisible and following the griefer, he could watch as the guy began hitting the wall with his hand. 

As soon as one of the stone blocks broke, Leon hit the command /jail Leetman. Instantly the bad egg was teleported to the tower he had mentioned earlier. 

"WTF why am I in jail?" 

"You must think we're really stupid," Leon commented with more than a little satisfaction. "Did you really think we were going to trust you after you tried to ban us and give yourself TNT? Not to mention we just saw you break a piece off the arena." 

"Ban me then. This server's going DOWN!" 

"Oh, not before we have some fun with you first." 

"Nice one, Leon," Rainbow said, teleporting over to the tower to see the jailed player. "Nice try griefing our server, you jerk!" 

"I'LL SEE YOU ALL BANNED FROM THIS GAME!" 

"I think you need an attitude adjustment," Leon typed, after which he hit a switch next to the window. A trapdoor opened in the cell, causing Leetman to fall about a hundred feet into a massive cavern filed with lava. 

Leetman tried to swim in lava. 

There were more spontaneous laughs and variations of such flooding the chat after that message popped up. 

"I'LL BAN YOU ALL!" 

"Ban this." Leon banned him, with the reason, "You are now OP!"  

"Well, that settles that," Luna said, almost disappointedly. 

"Yes, well, we have an event to set up." 

"Leetman2 joined the server." 

Leon just stared at the screen. Was this guy really trying to come back on an alternate account?

"Give me OP, NOW, or else this server will be shut down." 

Leetman2 was banned. 

Leetman2 was IP banned. 

Leetman2 has left the server. 

Leon sat back in his chair. One less griefer to worry about.