How do I change the gamemode on my Minecraft server?

Minecraft has four gamemodes: survival, creative, adventure and spectator. As an operator you can switch between them for yourself and for other players with one command, and in server.properties you set which mode new players start in. This article covers both, plus a few details that regularly cause questions.

The four modes

• Survival: the normal game, with health, hunger and resources you gather yourself.
• Creative: unlimited blocks, flying, no damage. For building.
• Adventure: like survival, but blocks can only be broken or placed with the right tools (via CanDestroy and CanPlaceOn). For maps and minigames.
• Spectator: fly through everything, invisible, cannot interact. For moderators and for watching events.

Changing your own gamemode

In-game, as an operator: /gamemode creative, /gamemode survival, /gamemode adventure or /gamemode spectator. Not OP yet? See how do I OP myself. Short forms also work on most servers: /gmc, /gms, /gma and /gmsp come from EssentialsX; on vanilla the full command is the only option.

Changing someone else's gamemode

Add the player's name: /gamemode creative PlayerName. From the panel console the same works without a slash: gamemode creative PlayerName. The console can change anyone's gamemode, even if no operator is online.

The default gamemode for new players

1. Go to the game panel and click your server.
2. Open the Properties page and set GAMEMODE to the mode you want (or edit gamemode=survival in server.properties through File Manager).
3. Restart the server.

This only applies to players who join for the first time. Existing players keep the mode they last had. If you want everyone to be put in the same mode at every login, additionally set force-gamemode=true in server.properties.

Gamemode per world

On a server with a survival world and a creative world, you want players to switch automatically when they change world. Multiverse does that with /mv modify set mode creative in the creative world; the plugin then forces the mode on entering. Combine that with a plugin such as Multiverse-Inventories so creative items cannot be carried into survival.

Common questions

• "You do not have permission": you are not OP, or a permission plugin blocks minecraft.command.gamemode. Grant the permission through LuckPerms.
• Players give themselves creative: someone has OP or the permission. Check with /op lists and your permission plugin; only staff should have it.
• Gamemode resets after a restart: force-gamemode is enabled, or a plugin (Multiverse, a lobby plugin) sets the mode on join.
• Adventure mode: nobody can break anything: that is by design; use survival unless you build a map with specific tool rules.

Want to fly in survival without creative? See flying on your Minecraft server. Still stuck? Open a ticket.