Don't worry, things definitely haven't changed since a week ago when I shared how to use ModLoader to easily install mods to your Minecraft client. Minecraft is still a phenomenon. Notch is still considered to be a genius. The game is still going strong as the greatest indie title of all time. Let's all gasp now.

One thing that is going to be changing, though, is my vantage point. No longer will I be telling you how to install cool little modifications to your Minecraft client. This time, I'm showing you how to install plugins when you get your very own server up and running through Bukkit. Straight from Minecraft's wiki, Bukkit is described as "the name of a set of community-built, open source tools envisioned and developed to ease the creation of SMP plugins." It is a little bit like the ModLoader of SMP features.

Essentials

Essentials is, well… essential.

As teased at above, Essentials adds more than 100 very efficient and important commands and permissions to your SMP server. God mode, heal, repair, pay, worth, AFK, spawnmob, tempban, and teleport are just a few. This plugin should (and maybe will?) be built directly into the Minecraft release. Some of these commands are too important and integral to the growth of a server that I can't possibly see how they were overlooked and left out. The Essentials package comes in several modules, such as EssentialsSpawn, EssentialsProtect, EssentialsChat, etc. Essentials contributes to the functionality of just about every part of a server.

NoCheat [No Longer Available]

If you run a server without NoCheat and it manages to make its way onto Planet Minecraft, good luck. Ever since I've started to manage my own server, I've been completely stunned and disgusted by just how many people use a hack or modded client. NoCheat will alert you whenever this activity is detected.

NoCheat thwarts hacks that are very difficult to see with a trained eye. I expected lots of false positives and poor feedback, but this thing works beautifully. Never again will another player speed, fly, or use complicated PvP hacks on your server without you knowing.

Orebfuscator [No Longer Available]

While this should have really been built into NoCheat, it is definitely a great and important plugin to any server that values its economy. What Orebfuscator basically does is disable true "x-ray" hacks on your server. Players won't be able to mine right down to diamond anymore.

As shown in that official plugin screenshot, Orebfuscator obfuscates the many important ore blocks of Minecraft so that even users who have modified clients that allow "x-raying" won't be able to put their beady eyes on the goods. While people do complain that it's heavy and adds a little lag to the server, I can't imagine playing without it.

Multiverse [No Longer Available]

Multiverse is the one and only true solution to managing your multi-world server. This thing has got everything:

• Create worlds from seeds or generators.
• Set your game mode per world.
• Restrict users from going to worlds using permissions.
• Restrict animals, monsters, and other spawns per world.

Many, many more features are packed into this beautiful bukkit plugin.

This plugin is a little heavy on resources so I'd really only suggest you get going with it if you definitely need a second world!

WorldEdit [No Longer Available]

WorldEdit practically turns your cursor into a virtual paintbrush where the Minecraft world is your canvas. We all know about creative mode, but this takes things to a whole different level.

You can smooth an entire mountain in seconds. You can copy and paste areas into another location. You can select one chunk radius and have it restored from a backup. You can automatically generate any of the Minecraft biomes. There's a whole lot in this plugin and even though it cuts down building time tenfold, it'll still manage to keep you busy for hours!

I can think of plenty more bukkit plugins that are quality mentions, but let's keep the list short. How about you? I'd like to hear about your favorites in the comments. Oh, and check out our Minecraft overview if you haven't!