Minecraft: Can Villagers Open Gates & Doors? (& Use Buttons) (2024)

Although villagers can definitely be a helping hand for many Minecraft players, having them enter your survival base without permission can be pretty annoying. Many Minecraft players wonder if villagers can open doors and gates in Minecraft as a result, as well as if they can use buttons.

Can villagers open gates?

Gates in Minecraft, also known as fence gates, are used similarly to doors in the sense that they create an obstruction for animals and mobs while still allowing easy entrance for players. Villagers do not have the most sophisticated AIs in Minecraft, and they are not able to open or close fence gates in the game.

Fence gates have a variety of extra benefits to Minecraft players as well, as they can be used to control Minecraft animals for farms and breeding while keeping aggressive mobs out. In addition, anything inside fences cannot be detected unless it makes noises, which is great for keeping mobs like zombies at a safe distance.

Can villagers open doors?

Doors in Minecraft are meant to act as barriers for mobs and pathways for players, but this doesn’t always play out as intended in the game. Minecraft doors come in a range of styles and materials and can be used between blocks that you’d like to transform into an entrance or exit.

Villagers can open certain doors in some cases, depending on what they are made of. For quite some time, many Minecraft players believed that villagers are only able to open and go through wooden doors, but it seems this is not quite the case in recent Minecraft versions for both the Minecraft Java Edition and the Minecraft Bedrock Edition.

Wooden doors should be the only type that villagers can open. Still, doors of any material and quality could be opened by villagers depending on different factors – whether they are made of wood, iron, or something else. This can be understandably annoying for many Minecraft players, as it’s really difficult to get a villager out of your Minecraft base once they get inside.

Villagers are known to get far too comfortable pretty quickly once they access your Minecraft house, even though they may not cause too much trouble – apart from potentially claiming your bed! If they’re not actively trying to get in your way, the odd murmuring can be off-putting, and (in some cases) they may even be able to lock you out of your house somehow.

If you have a problem keeping villagers out of your Minecraft home, the best option would be to use iron doors topped with additional Redstone mechanisms. However, as a last resort, you could also place down some trap doors since villagers cannot open trap doors either.

Can villagers use buttons & levers?

Levers and buttons can be attached to entrances like doors, in addition to using more advanced Redstone contraptions and mechanisms in the game. Villagers are not able to interact with levers or buttons in Minecraft, which can make them a great way to keep villagers out.

Can villagers use pressure plates?

Pressure plates can be an amazing way to spruce up your Minecraft survival base while adding some much-needed functionality features as well. They can be used as add-ons to Redstone contraptions and can be a fun way to alter the way your entrances work in the game.

However, pressure plates made of certain lower-tier materials can be activated by mobs. For example, stone pressure plates can be triggered by mobs and players, while wooden pressure plates can be activated by all entities and even various items in Minecraft – apart from snowballs.

This can make using pressure plates tricky at lower levels since villagers would be able to get through entrances if there is a pressure plate placed on the outside. The best bet is to place pressure plates on the inside of entrances to avoid the space being accessed by villagers.

How to keep villagers out of your house?

With all that being said, keeping villagers out of your Minecraft home can still be surprisingly simple. All it takes is using the right materials for the entrances and exits around your base, placing them strategically, or topping them off with sophisticated contraptions.

Use iron doors

As mentioned, iron doors cannot typically be opened by villagers in Minecraft, unless they are modified with pressure plates that villagers can trigger. This means that iron doors would be the best way to keep them out if you really want to have doors around your Minecraft home’s exterior.

If you are using Minecraft mods and add-ons, there is the chance that villagers might open iron doors. You could top off iron doors with buttons and levers as well for added security.

Redstone Piston Doors

Redstone Piston Doors are no easy task, but they are really cool and can add an interesting spin to a classic Minecraft home entrance. In this case, these doors will need to be controlled by buttons or levers.

This will need to be built with the rest of your Minecraft base’s design and structure in mind, and it will take some time. But these doors do a really solid job of keeping villagers out.

Fence gates instead of doors

Gates may be slightly awkward to maneuver, but using fence gates instead of doors is the most reliable way to keep villagers out of your home. They do not take many resources to craft or demand top-tier materials, making them the most practical and convenient method. There’s a ton of room for design and creativity here – you could even make a styled fence topped with a button, as seen below.

Inverted doors

If you’re still going through the earlier stages of Minecraft and do not have access to higher-tiered resources and materials just yet, there may be another way you could keep villagers out of your space. According to some Minecraft fans, placing your doors in an inverted way can be enough to deter them.

The door should be open when you place it down, indicating it’s been placed down in an inverted way. While villagers will still technically be able to open a wooden door if it’s inverted, it can confuse them enough to discourage them from using it. Still, unless you really want to have doors, using wooden fence gates instead of doors would still be the more reliable option.

Minecraft is home to a massive spread of simple yet loveable mobs, many of which can alter your gameplay experience entirely. While villagers can go through wooden doors with ease, they cannot interact with most other entrances in the game making it pretty easy to keep your Minecraft survival home villager-free.

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