Minecraft Gamerules 1.21.11+ : list 2026

A single badly set value can wipe drops, block sleep, or let 64 players load the spawn chunks all night. By the end, you know how to read the list of Minecraft 1.21.11+ gamerules, apply the useful values, check the result, and return to the defaults without digging through world files.

Get a Minecraft 1.21.11+ server configured with /gamerule

The expected result comes down to three points. Your world keeps the chosen rules after a restart, players see the effect right away, and you know which value to restore if the setting damages the game. A gamerule is stored in the world, not in server.properties. It therefore travels with the backup folder, its dimensions, and its file level.dat. When you move the map, you also move these rules.

Plan for a Minecraft Java 1.21.11 server or newer, console access, or an operator account at level 2 minimum. Level 1 mainly reads basic commands. Level 2 runs management commands such as gamerule, give, and time. On Paper, Fabric, and Vanilla, the syntax stays the same for standard game rules. Plugins can add their own logic, but the Minecraft command does not change for these rules.

The basic command uses two elements, the name of the rule, then its value. true and false are used for booleans. An integer is used for playersSleepingPercentage, randomTickSpeed, spawnRadius, maxEntityCramming, or spawnChunkRadius. A negative value sometimes works, but it rarely leaves a server healthy. Keep randomTickSpeed at 3 if you do not know exactly why you are changing it. At 100, crops and leaves speed up, but the CPU pays the price on every tick.

Prepare access before changing the gamerules

First close the classic trap, do not modify an old test world. In the console, type the list command and check whether keepInventory, doMobSpawning, and randomTickSpeed return the values of the active world. A server with world, world_nether, and world_the_end keeps the gamerules in the same main world. A map copied under another name can still cost you 20 minutes, especially if the panel shows several close instances.

At Starmine, the panel opens the console for the correct server, shows whether it is online or stopped, and avoids having to look manually for the world folder before launching a game rule. The save button is useful before the tests. After a mistake, it is mostly used to measure what you are going to lose.

1. Make a dated backup. An archive of 2 to 8 GB often takes less than 2 minutes on a small world. It covers indirect effects, for example players who died during a keepInventory test.
2. Check the permissions. From the game, use an OP level 2 account. From the console, no OP is needed, but the command is sent to the active instance.
3. Write down the current values. Copy at least keepInventory, mobGriefing, playersSleepingPercentage, doFireTick, randomTickSpeed, and spawnChunkRadius. These 6 values explain most support tickets after an evening of tweaking.

Apply the most requested gamerules step by step

Start with the rules that really change the players' game without twisting the whole server economy. keepInventory set to true removes inventory loss on death. This is suited to a building or family server. On a survival server with trading, the value becomes bad if death no longer costs anything and if spare chests lose their purpose. The comfort gained can wipe out an entire game loop.

\/gamerule keepInventory true
\/gamerule playersSleepingPercentage 50
\/gamerule mobGriefing false

1. keepInventory true keeps the inventory and armor after death. XP no longer drops on the ground depending on the versions and related rules. Set it back to false if dungeons, the Nether, or PvP must keep some risk.
2. playersSleepingPercentage 50 makes night pass when half the players are sleeping. At 100, a single AFK player blocks 19 others on a 20-player server. At 0, one person can force daytime, which quickly annoys players who farm mobs.
3. mobGriefing false prevents Creepers from breaking blocks and Endermen from moving blocks. Be careful, this rule also affects useful mechanics, villagers no longer pick up certain items, sheep may behave differently depending on interactions, and several mob farms break.

Change a rule, wait 30 seconds, then observe. Three commands launched one after the other hide the cause of the problem. That is how a server ends up with doMobSpawning false for two days, while everyone looks for why farms and nights seem dead.

Read the list of gamerules 1.21.11+ and the 2026 names

Minecraft Java 1.21.11+ keeps names in camelCase. Old names with spaces, hyphens, or lowercase letters copied from private wikis are not valid. In 2026, watch especially for names added in versions 1.20.5 to 1.21.x: spawnChunkRadius, commandModificationBlockLimit, maxCommandForkCount, projectilesCanBreakBlocks, enderPearlsVanishOnDeath and minecartMaxSpeed when the server version exposes it. One wrongly copied letter is enough to make the command fail.

The full list visible on your version comes from command completion, not from memory. Tab after the command name shows the gamerules actually loaded by the server. Paper does not rename Vanilla gamerules. A plugin can add a close command, or intercept behavior afterward, but it does not change the names stored by Minecraft.

Check that gamerules stay active after restart

Check in three steps. First query the rule without a value. The response must return exactly the applied value, for example true for keepInventory or 50 for playersSleepingPercentage. Then restart the server. Finally, run the same query again. If the value returns to default, you were not on the right world, or a datapack, plugin, or startup script resets it on launch.

\/gamerule keepInventory
\/gamerule playersSleepingPercentage

Also look at the startup logs. A world loading line appears before port 25565 opens. If your panel says online but the console still shows Preparing spawn area: 75%, wait. A command sent too early can disappear on some wrappers, and you waste time fixing a rule that was never applied.

Test with a real case. For keepInventory, put an item with no value in the hotbar, kill the player with \/kill, then check the inventory. For playersSleepingPercentage at 50, connect 2 accounts or ask 2 players: 1 bed should be enough. For mobGriefing false, blow up a Creeper in a test area, not at spawn. If the ground breaks, the rule is not active or an explosion plugin rewrites the event.

Fix error messages and return to default values

gamerule errors often come from a typo in the name, not from a server bug. The message No game rule called 'keepinventory' is available indicates incorrect capitalization: keepInventory takes a capital I. The message Incorrect argument for command appears when you put yes instead of true, or 50.5 instead of 50. The message You do not have permission to use this command comes from an account without sufficient OP level. From the console, remove the slash if your interface requires it, otherwise keep the command as it already works for say or list.

To go back, restore the known Vanilla defaults, then check. The most useful ones: keepInventory false, mobGriefing true, doMobSpawning true, doFireTick true, randomTickSpeed 3, playersSleepingPercentage 100, spawnRadius 10, spawnChunkRadius 2, maxEntityCramming 24. Do not set randomTickSpeed to 0 to fix a farm lag issue. You also block normal growth. Instead, look for the farm that triggers 5 000 block updates.

Only restore a backup if you accept losing everything that changed since that archive: placed blocks, inventories, deaths, chests, positions and progress. A backup from 45 minutes ago erases 45 minutes of play.

If a datapack forces the values, disable it at shutdown, restart, then enter the gamerules again. If a plugin sets them back, look in its configuration for the words gamerule, keepInventory or mobGriefing. A restart that always cancels the same value is almost never a Minecraft problem. It is a command run elsewhere, often by a forgotten configuration.

Guides

Do gamerules work on Bedrock like on Java?

No, the names and behavior are not always the same. This guide is for Minecraft Java 1.21.11+ with Vanilla, Paper or Fabric. On Bedrock, check the command available in game before copying a value. A correct Java value may do nothing on the Bedrock side.

Why does keepInventory not work in my multiverse world?

Multiworld plugins can apply rules per world or run commands on load. Check the value in the world where the player dies, then look for a configuration that forces keepInventory. The typical symptom is a correct value at spawn and a wrong one in a resource world.

Do you need to restart after a gamerule?

No, a gamerule is generally applied immediately. Restarting only serves to check that it stays saved and that a plugin is not replacing it. Still do an in-game test for rules related to mobs, explosions and sleep. Those are the ones where a plugin most easily hides the result.

Which gamerule causes the most lag when it is misconfigured?

randomTickSpeed quickly causes problems if it goes from 3 to 100 or more. Crops, leaves, copper blocks, fire and other random updates multiply. A spawnChunkRadius that is too high also keeps loading chunks all the time, even with no player at spawn. Those chunks remain server work as long as the rule keeps them loaded.