Reference

SMP glossary

Genres

SMP: Survival multiplayer. A shared survival world rather than minigame lobbies.
Lifesteal: Hearts transfer on kill and running out means elimination.
Anarchy: No rules, no claims, no moderation, no reset.
Earth SMP: Survival on a scale map of the real world, usually with towny on top.
Towny: A town-and-nation plugin: mayors, plots, taxes, upkeep, wars.
Civ: A genre with no plugin claims, using custom reinforcement mechanics and player-built nations.
Semi-vanilla: Survival with minimal additions beyond claims and basic quality of life.

Claim: A region marked as yours, protecting blocks from other players.
Claim blocks: The currency for claiming land, usually earned through playtime.
Trust: Granting another player rights inside your claim. The most common cause of base loss.
Upkeep: A daily cost a town pays to hold its claims. If the bank empties the town falls.
Rollback: Staff reverting griefing using block logs. Only works inside the log retention window.
Claim expiry: Automatic release of a claim after a period of inactivity.

1.8 PvP: Pre-cooldown combat mechanics. Click speed and knockback control dominant.
Crystal PvP: Modern meta using end crystals and totems of undying.
Totem: Totem of undying. Prevents one death. Effectively mandatory in crystal PvP.
Combat log: Disconnecting mid-fight. Most servers punish it with a timer or a death.
Deadzone / PvP zone: An area where PvP is enabled, usually with its own loot and drop rules.
Full drop: Death costs your inventory.

Jobs: A system paying players for ordinary actions like mining or farming.
Sink: Anything removing money from the economy. Without sinks, prices inflate.
AH: Auction house. Player-to-player sales with a listing fee or tax.
Battlepass: A seasonal reward track, usually with a free and a paid tier.
Daily / mission: A bounded objective with a fixed payout. Good economy design.
Keyall: Staff granting a crate key to everyone online.

Season: A scheduled world reset, common on lifesteal and survival, absent on anarchy and earth.
World border: The edge of the buildable map. Decides whether new land exists.
Queue: A login waiting line. Part of the culture on large anarchy servers.
Crossplay: Java and Bedrock players on one address, usually via a proxy.
P2W: Pay to win. Whether the store sells advantages you cannot otherwise earn.

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What is a Minecraft SMP? SMP means survival multiplayer. In practice the label now covers four very different genres that share an acronym.
Lifesteal SMP mechanics explained Hearts as a transferable resource, elimination when you run out, and revival as the economy that grows around it.
Anarchy servers explained No rules, no claims, no moderation, no reset. What that actually means for your first session.
Earth SMP and towny servers Real-world maps, player nations, taxes and border wars. The most political corner of Minecraft multiplayer.