Why Won’t My Villager Move Out? Understanding Animal Crossing Departure Dynamics
It’s a common frustration among Animal Crossing: New Horizons players: you have a villager you’re ready to say goodbye to, but they just won’t take the hint and pack their bags. The short answer to “Why won’t my villager move out?” is that villagers can only leave your island if they explicitly express a desire to do so, indicated by a thought bubble appearing over their head. If a villager doesn’t ask to leave, you cannot force them out through any in-game mechanic. This is a core design element of Animal Crossing – villagers have their own timelines and the game relies on a mix of chance and player interaction for them to depart. It’s not enough to just dislike them; the game needs to trigger the “thinking of moving” flag for a villager before they consider leaving.
Understanding the Departure Process
The process of a villager deciding to move out is governed by a few key mechanics:
- The Thought Bubble: This is your golden ticket. When a villager has a thought bubble, there’s a chance they’ll ask to move. However, not all thought bubbles are move-related. They may ask for a favor, want to gift something, or just have something to say. If it’s not a move-out request, end the conversation and try again later that same day, or on subsequent days.
- The 15-Day Rule: A villager can only initiate the move-out process 15 days after another villager has moved out completely. This means, if you’ve recently lost a villager, you need to wait before another will consider leaving.
- The 5-Day Rule (Persuaded to Stay): If a villager asks to leave, and you convince them to stay, you’ll need to wait 5 days before another villager can consider moving out. This creates a cool-down period, preventing a rapid cycling of villagers.
- Randomness: Ultimately, much of the process is random. There’s no guarantee a specific villager will ask to leave, or that a villager will ask within a specific timeframe after these cool-down periods expire.
Factors That Don’t Guarantee a Move-Out
It’s important to know what doesn’t affect a villager’s decision to move:
- Ignoring Them: While it’s often recommended to ignore villagers you want to leave, this alone doesn’t force them out. Ignoring a villager is useful for making another villager think about leaving first, but it does not make a villager leave on its own.
- Bullying: Hitting with nets, pushing, or complaining to Isabelle does NOT make a villager move out. These actions may lower friendship points, but do not cause the villager to leave.
- Complaining to Isabelle: Isabelle cannot remove villagers directly. Reporting a villager’s clothing or speech has no impact on their departure.
Strategies That Might Help
While there’s no guaranteed method, these strategies are often effective in getting the “move-out” thought bubble to appear more frequently:
- Consistent Interaction (With the Villagers You Want to Keep): Engaging in daily conversations, giving gifts, and completing tasks for villagers you like can raise friendship levels and encourage the game to focus on other villagers for potential move-outs.
- Time Travel: Some players use time travel to cycle through days more quickly, looking for a villager with a thought bubble. It’s important to only go forward one day at a time and check for a thought bubble. If you jump too far ahead, that specific opportunity to get a thought bubble will disappear.
- Observe Thought Bubbles: Check in on your villagers throughout the day to see if they have a thought bubble. If they do, talk to them, and see if it’s about moving out. If not, try again later that day or the next.
- Patience: Ultimately, the biggest key is patience. Villager departures are a designed mechanic that is tied into random processes, so it can take some time.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are some common questions players have about villager departures:
1. How long does it take for a villager to ask to move out?
There is no set time for a villager to express a desire to leave. However, the game mechanics include a 15-day waiting period after one villager moves out and a 5-day waiting period after a villager is persuaded to stay before another villager can have the “moving out” thought bubble. After these time frames are met, it’s based on the random mechanics of the game.
2. Can I speed up a villager’s move-out?
You cannot force a villager to leave. However, using methods such as ignoring villagers you dislike and interacting with villagers you want to keep, checking throughout the day for thought bubbles, and utilizing time travel, can potentially make it happen faster.
3. Does hitting a villager with a net make them leave?
No, hitting a villager with a net or any other similar action does not make them leave. These actions may lower friendship, but it does not trigger the move-out thought bubble.
4. Can Isabelle remove villagers?
No, Isabelle cannot remove villagers directly. Complaining to her about a villager’s behavior has no impact on their departure.
5. Does having a full island make villagers leave faster?
No, having a full island or empty plots doesn’t impact the likelihood of a villager moving out. What matters is the game mechanics around the 15-day and 5-day timers, combined with the random mechanics.
6. Can I stop a villager from leaving once they ask?
Yes, when a villager expresses a desire to leave, you have the choice to encourage or discourage them. If you ask them to stay, they will, and they won’t have the thought bubble again for at least 5 days.
7. How often do villagers have the moving-out thought bubble?
A villager can have a move-out thought bubble once every 15 days after another villager has moved out, or 5 days after a villager has been persuaded to stay. Again, this is based on the random mechanics of the game.
8. Can multiple villagers ask to leave on the same day?
No, only one villager at most can ask to move out on a given day. Once one is decided for the day, that’s the only one that day.
9. What if the villager with the thought bubble doesn’t want to move?
If a villager has a thought bubble but doesn’t ask to move, end the conversation and skip ahead within the same day to check if another thought bubble appears. If not, skip to the next day and repeat.
10. Does ignoring a villager make them want to leave?
Ignoring a villager alone does not make them leave, but it can help trigger another villager to ask to leave first. If you want to focus on a particular villager’s move-out opportunity, it helps to ignore them while focusing on the villagers you want to keep around by interacting with them daily.
11. Does time traveling affect villager moves?
Time traveling can be an effective way to speed things up, but you should only go one day forward at a time in order to not lose the potential move-out opportunity for a villager, and then to check for thought bubbles on each of your villagers.
12. Do villagers remember you after they leave?
No, villagers do not retain any memory of their time on your island if you encounter them again in the future.
13. What are the rarest villager types?
The rarest types of villagers are generally considered to be: Octopus (5), Non-Animal Villagers (6), Tiger (7), Cow (8), Bull (9), Lion (9), Rhinoceros (9), and Alligator (9).
14. What villager species move out the fastest?
There’s no specific species that moves out faster than others. The chance of a villager leaving is based on random mechanics and other internal game variables, not their type.
15. Can a villager refuse to move in?
A villager can refuse to move in from a campsite a few times, but if you keep trying, they will eventually agree to move in.
Understanding how villager departures work in Animal Crossing: New Horizons can make the whole experience less frustrating. While you can’t directly force a villager to leave, by using the provided strategies and understanding the mechanics, you can influence the process and hopefully say goodbye to the villager you want to move off the island.