What is an effective way to raise the water level on an entire world?

I would like to play in a water world with deep oceans and islands everywhere, not just occasional ocean biomes. I have looked for a good seed, but nothing really shows up. I am wondering if there is a way I can hack to flood an entire world. Is there an effective way of raising the water level across the entire world?

Solution 1:

Try out the Bukkit plugin called Terrain Control. It features the ability to change the water height by modifying the config. However, you will have to run a Bukkit server on your local network to use it.

As of snapshot 14w17a, it is now possible to customize the water level ingame. When creating a new world, this can be achieved by clicking More World Options..., changing the World Type to Customized, and then selecting the Customize button. Here, you can change the sea level by moving the slider that says Sea Level, as well as many more options.

Solution 2:

Update: With the introduction of the ocean biome in beta 1.8, it is possible to play in a "water world" without needing to raise the sea level, by finding a seed which starts you in the middle of such a biome. Seeds can be found wherever Minecraftians congregate, including the official forums and Reddit.

Even with a world editor, you cannot flood "the whole world", because the world is procedurally generated as you explore it. The best you could get would be to flood the areas of the world you've already seen.

Instead, you should look for mods which affect world generation. A quick search of the mod forum turns up the Phoenix Terrain Mod, which has a waterLevel setting (default 64) as well as many others which may help you achieve the effect you're looking for.