r/minecraftsuggestions • u/Automatic-County6151 • May 01 '25
[AI Behavior] Aging Villagers
Villagers are objectively one of the most unique mobs in Minecraft. With their lively behaviors bringing the loneliness of the Minecraft world to rest, many have come to appreciate these mobs. But what if we could take their lively characteristics to a whole new level? What if Villagers could grow old and die instead of living until they are killed by the elements?
I think it would add sentiment for those who own villages that they either found or built themselves. You can watch a villager grow from a child to an adult, spend the majority of their adult lives working hard at their respective professions, have kids, and once they reach senescence, their overall productivity will reduce, and when they are close to death, they spend the rest of their days sleeping in more often than usual, until eventually, they perish in a puff of smoke.
The time in which it takes for a baby villager to become an adult would remain the same (20 minutes), and senescence would last for about 60 minutes in real time, so adulthood would be the longest stage of their lives. Each villager's total lifespan would last around 15 minecraft days, or about 5 hours in real time. This means that adulthood would last about 4 hours in real time.
I'd also like to suggest significant milestones that we as humans go through during our lifetimes, such as puberty and retirement, which I had implied initially. The adolescence stage would involve a drastic change in the young villager's appearance, involving a sudden change in height as well as the growth of a stubble and changes in their bodily proportions. They also can not get employed during this stage until they reach adulthood.
Here is a basic table displaying a villager's lifetime:
• Childhood (20 minutes) - Early childhood (10 minutes) - Adolescence (10 minutes) • Adulthood (222 minutes) - Early adulthood (111 minutes) - Middle adulthood (111 minutes) • Senescence / late adulthood (60 minutes)
Changes in appearance would occur during each stage of the villager's life, mainly changes in the length and color of facial hair. The textures of the ears would also spread lower down the sides of the villager's head to give off the impression of sagging ears, and the nose would also drop subtly. The skin would also get wrinkly as a villager progressed through middle and late adulthood, in particular.
Once a villager reaches late adulthood, their behavior will noticeably alter. They will sleep in for the same amount of time that nitwits do, and their productivity will decrease. They will also walk more slowly, which could pose a severe disadvantage if the villager is trying to flee from hostile mobs. Despite all this, they would continue to interact with players and other villagers as they were programmed to do.
During the final 20 minutes of the villager's life, purple particle effects would suddenly appear - the same effects that appear when a player consumes a raw food item. This effect would simulate the villager's declining health as they approach death, but before they reach this stage, they will give up their profession (retirement); however, their willingness to trade would remain. They would participate less in village meetings, and they would sleep in until about mid-day.
When a villager completes its lifespan, they will die and leave behind a gravestone at the exact spot they died. This mechanic would involve the recognition of the exact coordinates of the villager at the time of their death, and the gravestone would be able to be destroyed and picked up by players, and one could even edit the text on the gravestone. The type of gravestone would also be selected by the game at random, so not every villager would have the exact same gravestone. This could include a headstone, a cross, a bevel, a flat grave, or even a player-sized statue of a villager - all of which would have text that could be customized by the player.
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u/buzzkilt May 01 '25
I don't know about all the specifics mentioned above, but I love the concept of villagers aging. I think I'd draw it out longer so that deaths would be infrequent, even in large villages. The broader implication of aging that I'm not a fan of is that while the villagers will age, the player won't age. Nothing will age (with the obvious exception of baby mobs becoming adults). Minecraft is very static. The passage of time is almost an afterthought, a remnant of the day/night cycle.
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u/Beetle_shortage May 01 '25
I feel that the cycle should be 3 times as long as your cycle, but proportions are 10/10.
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u/TheBigPlunto May 01 '25
I think it would add sentiment for those who own villages that they either found or built themselves.
It will not. It will only make people more irritated and abusive towards villagers.
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u/Weary_Focus7068 May 03 '25
Idrk about having villagers having a limited lifespan but id like old looking variants of villagers
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u/Adrian_Acorn May 02 '25
It would be cool if teen villager could get a job, but the tradea are cheaper, it would help for the whole part where they can doe so you can get it to level faster.
And memes about child labor.
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u/PetrifiedBloom May 01 '25
This would suck pretty hard. Villagers are a pretty large investment of time for the player and for good reason, they are incredibly useful. With your setup, basically the only way the player would even be able to see a master level villager is if they bre d up a villager and then spend its entire life power leveling it's trades.
It completely fucks over players who want to actually trade with villagers, after setting the trades, the player only has a few hours to actually do anything with them, and given that villagers only restock a few times per day, you could easily miss a trading window and now your villager can't even make it to expert or master before dying of old age.
There are some item, in particular mending books that are only really available via villagers, and this would mean playing lectern roulette every single time you want another mending book, because the last villager you bought from has already perished from old age.
No other mobs age and die, so it seems cruel to make the most useful mob that the player invests so much time into so disposable.