Minecraft, I'm talking about Java Edition here, has configurable controls. This is an important topic, I'll list my findings here.
Sprinting
Historically, there was just one way to sprint: double-press W. Then, Mojang gave in and added a quasimode hold sprinting key; Shift was taken, so they went with Ctrl. To this day I find it the worst possible key for sprinting on a standard keyboard.
My alternative control schemes
Optimized Standard Keyboard
The left side is pain.
Right hand on touchpad
|
Finger |
Key |
Function |
|---|---|---|
|
Right index |
|
Mine |
|
Right middle |
|
Use |
|
Right thumb |
Touchpad |
Control camera, cursor, click in menus |
The mouse click, I don't really use it. It could be bound to . or whatever you fancy.
In theory, one can scroll the hotbar with trackpad, but I found it uncomfortable. Instead, I pressed 1–9. I got quite good at it.
Gamepad
...
Chunk trimming
As of 2026-05-30, the server I'm operating has grown to be pretty big. An archive of the world took 6 GB. That might not sound as much, but backups add up, network transmission takes significant time, etc. After the longest hesitation, removed chunks with inhabited time less than a minute, i.e. 1.4 mln chunks. The world shrinked back to 2 GB. We'll be able to easily find the new biome from Chaos Cubed!
World border
If you're operating a long-term server, a very important thing you have to do early is a world border. I didn't. Randomly moved to 12 thousand blocks away from spawn.
If I could choose now, I'd go for a 8k by 8k world.
When I actually understood the importance, it was too late. Had to draw the line on that new faraway settlement. Calling it the northern pole now.
Also make sure the Nether border is scaled accordingly.