Can you prevent villagers from moving without playing for awhile?

[UltraSonic737]

I've been playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf almost nonstop (except for letting it go for anywhere from a day to three days, usually) ever since it was released...though more recently I've been playing so as to prevent my favorite villagers Kody, Alfonso, O'Hare, and Maple from moving. I have two player characters both of which are controlled by me. One is my main villager, and the other one I created mostly for the purpose of creating town paths although I sometimes use him to interact with the other villagers though not nearly as much as my main character. I've gotten villager pictures from O'Hare and Kody as signs of our friendship, but not from Alfonso and Maple just yet. All four of them have wanted to move out multiple times, only for me to prevent them from doing so. I'm on very good terms with all of them and have been for a long time now. However, I'm starting to get fatigued and want to cut back on how often I play ACNL to make room for other games...but I still don't want to lose my favorite villagers if I'm inactive in my town.

I heard that if you prevent a villager from moving, then absolutely don't play for awhile, they won't move away while you're gone. Is this true? I've also heard rumors that villagers only have the chance to move away if you play constantly and not while you're away, but I can't confirm this. Is this true or untrue?

I wouldn't mind revisiting my game maybe every once every four to five days maybe but doing it every day is getting really tiresome, as much as I love the game and love my villagers. Yet I still don't want my favorites to move away. Can anyone help me out with this?

 

[oath2order]

I think that you can stop playing for about five days, and if the game hasn't selected a villager to move, then they won't move in those days.

 

[effluo]

You should be fine to stop playing as long as you stop a villager from moving like you mentioned. I have done this on my husbands game since he plays so sporadically and he had no moves outs while he was away. (About a week and a half) Someone will want to move once you load up the game again though.
Another option, of you TT, is that you just travel back to the day you just played or the day after too, and just play until up you come back to present day. ^^
Villagers will move if you don't play for a long time(only one though) or if you missed a ping somehow. So make sure you take to several villagers if no one move pinged you. Just in case. ^^

 

[Sun]

sorry to revive an old thread, but if you TT back to the day you stopped playing (oct 2 for me), then wait for a villager to ping to prevent them from moving, then TT to the present day, will that prevent move outs?

 

[Jinglefruit]

sorry to revive an old thread, but if you TT back to the day you stopped playing (oct 2 for me), then wait for a villager to ping to prevent them from moving, then TT to the present day, will that prevent move outs?

Not guaranteed as there is then a small chance a different villager will move out.

A better way to do it is to TT back and tell a villager to stay back near the date you stopped playing, then TT (via the 3DS settings) to the present day and make a new character. use them to check all your villagers are in town (and visit their houses to check none are boxed if it's within a week) and if they are then it's safe to load your mayor without them moving.

If one of the villagers you want to keep is gone then you have to TT back without playing as your mayor and prevent them from moving.

 

[Sun]

Not guaranteed as there is then a small chance a different villager will move out.

A better way to do it is to TT back and tell a villager to stay back near the date you stopped playing, then TT (via the 3DS settings) to the present day and make a new character. use them to check all your villagers are in town (and visit their houses to check none are boxed if it's within a week) and if they are then it's safe to load your mayor without them moving.

If one of the villagers you want to keep is gone then you have to TT back without playing as your mayor and prevent them from moving.

ah, that makes sense. But unfortunately, I have all 4 character slots made already T_T. I guess I could delete one. T_T haha

 

[Sun]

welp I lost Marshal T_T

oh wells. You live and you learn :[

 

[Jinglefruit]

Awh no! This is why I always opt for day-by-day TTing, takes ages but I've not lost anyone. Hope you either manage some quick cycling or find someone you like just as much!

I always make sure I have a space in my town for villager manipulating. ~ even now as I'm playing everyday and have 10 villagers I don't want to leave.