diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index c7adf6c..a37349f 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -26,10 +26,6 @@ async fn main() -> std::io::Result<()> {
 	} else {
 		ServerConfig::default()
 	};
-	std::fs::write(
-		config_path,
-		serde_json::to_string_pretty(&config).expect("failed to serialize default config"),
-	)?;
 
 	println!("starting server with config: {config:#?}");
 
diff --git a/src/server.rs b/src/server.rs
index bf5235d..90043ca 100644
--- a/src/server.rs
+++ b/src/server.rs
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ use crate::{
 	},
 	player::Player,
 	util::neighbors_minus_up,
+	CONFIG_FILE,
 };
 
 use self::config::ServerConfig;
@@ -38,6 +39,8 @@ pub struct ServerData {
 	pub free_player_ids: Vec<i8>,
 	/// the server's config
 	pub config: ServerConfig,
+	/// whether the server config needs to be resaved or not
+	pub config_needs_saving: bool,
 }
 
 impl Server {
@@ -66,6 +69,7 @@ impl Server {
 				players: Default::default(),
 				free_player_ids: Vec::new(),
 				config,
+				config_needs_saving: true,
 			})),
 			listener,
 		})
@@ -94,7 +98,21 @@ impl Server {
 async fn handle_ticks(data: Arc<RwLock<ServerData>>) {
 	let mut current_tick = 0;
 	loop {
-		tick(&mut *data.write().await, current_tick);
+		{
+			let mut data = data.write().await;
+			tick(&mut data, current_tick);
+
+			if data.config_needs_saving {
+				std::fs::write(
+					CONFIG_FILE,
+					serde_json::to_string_pretty(&data.config)
+						.expect("failed to serialize default config"),
+				)
+				.expect("failed to save config file");
+				data.config_needs_saving = false;
+			}
+		}
+
 		current_tick = current_tick.wrapping_add(1);
 		tokio::time::sleep(TICK_DURATION).await;
 	}
diff --git a/src/server/network.rs b/src/server/network.rs
index 765a627..92ff546 100644
--- a/src/server/network.rs
+++ b/src/server/network.rs
@@ -393,18 +393,31 @@ async fn handle_stream_inner(
 															serde_json::to_string(&permissions)
 																.expect("should never fail");
 
-														let current = data
+														if let Some(current) = data
 															.config
 															.player_perms
-															.entry(player_username.to_string())
-															.or_default();
-														if *current >= player_perms {
-															msg!("&cThis player outranks or is the same rank as you"
+															.get(player_username)
+														{
+															if *current >= player_perms {
+																msg!("&cThis player outranks or is the same rank as you"
 																.to_string());
-															continue;
+																continue;
+															}
 														}
 
-														*current = permissions;
+														data.config_needs_saving = true;
+
+														if matches!(permissions, PlayerType::Normal)
+														{
+															data.config
+																.player_perms
+																.remove(player_username);
+														} else {
+															data.config.player_perms.insert(
+																player_username.to_string(),
+																permissions,
+															);
+														}
 														if let Some(p) = data
 															.players
 															.iter_mut()