TagClash

TagClash: Nonlethal hand-tag sparring

TagClash adds empty-inventory tag matches inside administrator-defined arenas. Players walk into the arena, opt in, accept an invitation, and both ready up. Each round is first to five tags, with best-of-1, 3, or 5 sets, per-attacker cooldowns, timeouts and bounded tie replays.

Requirements and setup

This beta retains the technical plugin name Sparring Sets, its sparring-sets JAR filename, and /spar commands.

Intended target: Paper 26.2 with Java 25. No client mod or other plugin is required. Back up your server, place the JAR in plugins, and restart normally. Avoid hot reloads.

An administrator chooses an existing, hazard-free arena and runs /spar arena pos1 and /spar arena pos2 at opposite corners, including enough vertical room for jumping. Then use /spar arena create courtyard. /spar arena show courtyard displays an administrator-local outline. The plugin does not build, inspect, repair or fence the terrain.

Both players enable /spar invites on, enter the arena in Survival, empty their inventory, armor, offhand, cursor and crafting grid, and close containers. Potion effects, flight, vehicles and other unsupported movement states are rejected. One player uses /spar invite Alex courtyard 3; Alex uses /spar accept within 30 seconds; both then run /spar ready. /spar status shows progress. /spar cancel, /spar leave, or /spar invites off ends participation.

Permissions: sparringsets.play defaults to true; sparringsets.admin defaults to operators. Only arena definitions persist. Timers use server ticks, so lag stretches real-time duration.

Important safety boundaries

Only valid punches between eligible, consenting partners are cancelled. Hazards, outsiders and invalid combat can cause ordinary damage and end the set. Protection ends immediately on the winning tag or cancellation, including another punch in the same tick. Stop punching when the end message appears. Other plugins can interfere with cancellation, so this beta cannot guarantee player safety.

The plugin does not teleport, heal, save or restore inventories, modify terrain or grant rewards. Use an empty-inventory test area and keep spectators outside it.

Beta verification

Free MIT-licensed beta. Offline logic, mocked-event and independent safety tests passed, with reproducible release packaging. No Minecraft server or in-game testing was performed. Actual loading, combat feel, knockback, networking, performance and other-plugin compatibility remain unverified. Other Paper versions, Spigot and Folia are not claimed as supported.

Use project comments for reproducible bug reports without posting private player data or server secrets.