Villagers don't go into certain decorated areas of the island?

[LegallyBlondie]

Hey, I'm sure some of you have probably already noticed this, but it is rather bizarre in my opinion. As I have started decorating my island more and more, and made my gardens and added benches and bushes and hedges and outdoor furniture to certain areas, my villagers avoid those areas like the plague.

A good example would be a part of my town hall garden area which is fenced off with hedges, my villagers don't enter the square inside. They actually all seem to linger on the entrance of the hedges and don't go inside. When I push them to go inside, they immediately walk out back to the entrance.

Is there some kind of code or pathing in game that makes villagers avoid densely furnished areas?

 

[lieryl]

yeah all my villagers just hang out at resident services T^T i can’t get them to go to my decorated areas

 

[Aliya]

Yeah mine all hang out in front of the Residential District I set up where all of their houses are. There's a nice pond and picnic area just to the left of their houses that they don't touch ever.

 

[tobi!]

my villagers have no problem getting to my decorated areas.

are your decorated areas away from their homes? i find the closer the area is to their homes, the more likely they'll use it.

 

[SaltedKaramel]

I noticed this too. When I finished building my outdoor Chinese restaurant a week ago, i haven't seen a single villager there chilling. Really sad because I have all these imperial table out but they're all empty

 

[Imbri]

Weird. Mine pop up everywhere. The only place they don't go is on my 3rd cliff, which does not have any access except a ladder. It's where I keep flowers I'm breeding for hybrids.

 

[Envy]

I never see them in the entrance of my town despite it being the nicest decorated area IMO. I noticed over time it might be because they might not be able to get through it (it requires some scooting)... But then yesterday I saw a villager scoot through something elsewhere in the island so I don't know what to think.

 

[marea]

I noticed that the RS building is a big attraction spot, it is in the lower part of my island. My villagers always stay there even if their houses are on the upper part of the map. they do sometimes wander to other parts but not as much.

 

[shirocha]

In the beginning I would see my villagers all over the island, but once I started putting down paths via terraforming, I only see them in areas connected to the paths.

 

[Blink.]

I added a nice little park and benches around the flower garden near their homes :<

why don't ya'll sit there and dance there instead of town hall please. I wanna take screenies

 

[RisingSun]

Interesting. I have decorated areas and have seen my villagers use them. I wonder if it because I have them connected by paths. I’ve even seen them up on the northern beach.

 

[Candy83]

Weird. Mine pop up everywhere. The only place they don't go is on my 3rd cliff, which does not have any access except a ladder. It's where I keep flowers I'm breeding for hybrids.

My island has inclines to go up to all levels. This includes the third level (which is where the human characters live).

 

[Ananas Dragon]

I decorated something next to resident services, sometimes they chill there, and then the wild marshal is always on the beach for some reason

 

[Loriii]

They seem to go and annoy you while you're decorating a specific spot haha but other than that, I'm glad that I see them hanging out everywhere apart from RS especially the places that have been decorated. I made sure to put inclines on higher spots so yeah, for example, Whitney's house is located on the east and yet, I see her hanging out with Audie near the beach bar or my cafe near the heart pond on the west side. Also, some villagers have their own areas like Lily's house has this little picnic area with bamboo so just this morning, I caught her sitting there while reading a book.

 

[DJStarstryker]

My villagers wander all around for me. The only place they haven't hung out is my onsen area, but you currently can't get to that without a vaulting pole. Villagers won't go anywhere that requires a vaulting pole or ladder.

 

[cainhurst]

In the beginning I would see my villagers all over the island, but once I started putting down paths via terraforming, I only see them in areas connected to the paths.

I've just restarted my island a few days ago so I'll have to see if this stays the case for me, but on my previous island, I noticed this as well. If I had pathing down that definitively connected certain areas, the villagers seemed drawn to that (less so if I was just dotting it around) - but I also saw mine on bridges frequently, so I wonder if those features are what draw them.

 

[Chris]

Mine seem to favour decorated areas. They're all close to their houses.

They avoid my campsite area (makes sense, because it is deliberately hard to get to / out of the way) and don't cross my largest river.

 

[Garrett]

No, mine travel all over the island and happily go within partially fenced areas and interact with anything I've used to decorate. Their favourite spot is sitting at the table in my fenced garden.

 

[sdw4527]

I notice they tend to stick to areas with paths. I also notice they tend to avoid areas in the northern sections of my map. There’s paths there, but they generally hang out in the bottom portion where my shopping district is.

 

[LegallyBlondie]

Thanks all, I will add more paths as I think this may be the reason why they are avoiding certain areas as opposed to others.