Minecraft Experiments: Villager Behavior

Back in 2019, I wrote a couple articles on how villagers responded to the different discs that you can play in a jukebox. Instead of doing a set revisit of those articles, I figured I would do a general observation of a villager in isolation and get back into these experiments with something new. This article will be going over a few daylight cycles watching how a villager behaves.

This experiment is going to help us understand how a villager will behave in a particular environment. While the setting is going to reflect a generated village as much as possible, the villager will be completely alone. Over a span of 10 daylight cycles, we’ll be taking notes on the villagers' schedule, behavior patterns, overall mood, etc.

There was a point where I had already attempted to run this experiment. However, a few things went wrong along the way, and with the second caves and cliffs update, it needed redone anyway. An iron golem will be in the enclosure to ensure the villagers safety. The last time I did this, A baby zombie mounted a sheep and killed the villager after day 5. The carrot farm is pre grown to avoid any detection from the villager. While I was able to encourage planting without detection, it was a consistent issue to give the farmer a carrot every day. I’ll be observing from outside the wall to ensure that a wandering trader doesn't spawn inside. The villager didn’t interact with him much. However, it didn’t stop the villager from gossiping with the trader every now and then. The enclosure is larger than the last in order to encourage more wandering form the villager. This also gave me more space to build.

Now that the adjustments have been made, lets dive into this analysis together.

Day 1)

The villager spawned in as a shepherd at first. However, they attached to the bell and switched to becoming a farmer moments later. Only being in sight until they adjusted and took a carrot that I had dropped for them. After collecting the carrot, the villager went right to work on the fully matured carrot farm. Once the villager finished harvesting, they stood by their job block for a bit before exploring a portion of the enclosure. They did this by going out by a few blocks and returning to the job block, going further out each time. This continued until it was time to go inside for the night.

During the night, it seemed as if they were talking in their sleep. Making their signature thinking noises throughout the night.

Days 2–4)

The rain on day 2 prevented the villager from doing anything. However, villager had a somewhat consistent schedule and behavioral patterns on days 3 and 4. They’d wake up and almost run towards their job block, take a couple brief breaks, then go to bed at the end of the day. Most of their breaks consisted of checking out the sheep pen for a moment or looking at the fountain. They seemed excited to work and have something to do.

During day 4, the villager took the time to explore some of the living space before bed. Afterwards, the golem started chasing the phantoms that had spawned in due to me being awake. It was entertaining to watch. Meanwhile, the villager had another night of talking in their sleep.

Day 5)

Day 5 began notable changes to the villager's behavior. They didn’t run to work; they spent less time working and took breaks at a frequent rate. Any exploring was long the pathways. From the look of things, they seemed to be calming down after a couple days of excitement. It looked like they were having a no bones day from where I was standing. Yet again, the villager was very talkative throughout the night, despite having said nothing during the daytime.

Day 6)

While day 5 had notable changes, day 6 solidified these changes with another slow workday. The villager spent their time wandering throughout the habitat and visiting the job block for a second at a time. When it came time for the sun to go down, the villager was already in bed. Moving slowly throughout the day up until an early bedtime. A typical bedtime would be as the sun was setting or just as it went down. Today, they went to bed moments before the sun started setting

Day 7)

The villager spent most of day 7 as if it was day 5. Slow movement, a handful of breaks between long periods of work, isn’t rushing to bed at the end of the day. However, they had officially explored 75% of their living space and started to gossip. Nodding their head while making the typical pondering noise a villager would make. Gossiping at what, you might ask? They were spilling the tea to a sheep.

While I was intrigued at this behavior, I couldn’t help but notice a few things missing. I’ve done plenty of experiments with villagers before, and after some time, regardless to what may be nearby, a cat and another golem will typically spawn in. While the golem spawns when the villager is distressed, a cat will appear regardless. As long as there is a villager and a bell that they have associated with. There is no cat in this enclosure the entire time of this analysis. I’m still not sure why yet.

Day 8–10)

Throughout these last few days, we can notice an improvement to the villager's mood in a few ways. They had a bit more pep in their step during day 8. Having a work schedule that reflects day 5 while making time before bed to hang out around the house. They weren’t particularly talkative and didn’t attempt to gossip.

The thunderstorms on day 9 kept the villager inside. Meanwhile, the golem was left to chase phantoms all day. This continued until the start of day 10. The villager seems to stick to this day 5 sort of schedule with a day 8 kind of attitude. They took a healthy break at noon with a couple short breaks throughout the day. When the end of the day came around, they spent the late afternoon at the sheep pen before turning in for the night.

— — — — — — — — — — Epilogue — — — — — — — — — —

At the end of the study, I decided to give our villager a friend with a home and a job to boot. While they didn’t really know what to do at first. However, they stated to hang out by the fountain at noon. I made sure to get their attention for the picture. I hope this study tickles your brain and possibly helps you better understand the villagers you interact with in game. Thank you for reading.