Gameplay

Once a singleplayer Creative mode world is created, if cheats are enabled, it can be changed to aSurvival or Adventure world (or vice-versa) with the /gamemode and /defaultgamemodecommands. In multiplayer, players can be individually changed between game modes with the /gamemode command available to operators. This means that individual players can play Creative mode (at the operator's discretion) on a Survival map, or vice-versa. The game mode can be changed to Creative by typing/gamemode creative, /gamemode c or /gamemode 1.

 

The Creative mode inventory showing the Building Blocks tab for the PC version.

In Creative, the normal inventory screen is replaced by the item selection screen, which contains almost all blocks and items in a tabbed interface. There is also a search feature. One tab provides a Survival-like inventory, including armorslots (but is missing the crafting grid). Other tabs include foodstuffs, building blocks, Decorations, etc. Some items behave differently than in Survival mode; for example, empty buckets will never fill with water or lava, and water and lava buckets never empty, no matter how many times they are used.

Dropped items can be picked up by the player, but if the hotbar is already full, the items will go in the Survival inventory.

Flying is enabled, activated by double tapping the jump key (default is Space). Use the jump key to go up and the sneak key (default is ⇧ Shift) to go down and the movement keys (default is WASD) to move. The player can disable flying in mid-air by double-tapping Jump again, causing them to drop to the ground. Touching the ground when flying also disables flying. However, getting into a minecart or bed while flying will not disable flying when the player gets out.

Flying very close to the top of a block without touching it will generate footsteps sounds. As flying is much faster than walking, it will generate a lot of footsteps at once. It is also possible to hear wood footstep sounds when hovering right over some non-solid blocks like torches or signs.

When on creative putting an item in a frame doesn't cause it to disappear from your hand, instead duplicating the item.

Mobs will still spawn like in Survival (including from monster spawners), but are neutral and will not try to attack the player.

Normally indestructible blocks like bedrock and end portal frameblocks can also be destroyed. Going too far into the Void will still kill the player in Creative, but the player can fly around in the Void provided they do not descend below the y coordinate of -64. This, other than the /kill command, is the only way to die in Creative mode.

Blocks that are destroyed by means other than clicking on them (destroying a block it is attached to, or, if it is sand, gravel, or a Dragon Egg and it falls onto any non-solid block) can still be picked up.

If the player is holding a sword in Creative mode, they cannot break blocks.

If the player flies very high above the clouds, it will seem as if there are two suns, when in fact, both the sun and the moon are visible. This is due to the game's limited render distance; changing it will only increase/decrease the height needed to see this.

Some items and blocks are only available in Creative mode, such as spawn eggs.

In Xbox 360 Edition, creating a new Creative Mode world or opening an existing world in Creative Mode will permanently disable Achievements and Leaderboard updates for that particular game, but have no other effects on gameplay. In other words, Achievements and Leaderboard only work in games that have always been inSurvival mode. The inventory in Xbox 360 Edition is the same as the PC version, albeit with slightly different tabs and it's own set of items.

Pick block

The player can obtain items using pick block. Unlike survival mode, the block selected will appear in the player's hotbar even if the block is not already in the hotbar or in the Survival inventory. If it is in the inventory, then the block will move out of its former slot and replace the item in the active hotbar slot, with the size of the stack preserved.

Most blocks will give the player a copy of itself when using pick block. Using it on an item frame gives the player the item held inside. Using it on a mob will give the player a spawn egg of that mob.

If you hold Control and press pick block, in addition to obtaining the item, it will also preserve the blocks NBT tags. allowing you to place an identical copy of the block.

Representation in level.dat

To change the GameType in the level.dat it has to be opened with something like NBTedit:

As of 1.2.1, the code is now different. You'll find the String "GameType" in clear text followed by 0x000000:

Survival: 0

Creative: 1

Adventure: 2 

Spectator: 3