I can confirm that a village lost all its villagers rapidly, and that it seems like they are despawning due to distance from the player.
What I expected to happen was...:
A village stays populated with villagers even if you travel far, eg to an other village.
What actually happened was...:
A village that had kept all its villagers for many day-night cycles, lost all its villagers in one day-night cycle.
This happened when I travelled past my render distance.
I cannot attribute this to a zombie infection because zombies would not spawn that far from the player.
There's also the fact that zombie infections should take some time and leave traces: infected villagers, rotten flesh.
What if the number of villagers per house (at night time) was proportionate to the size of the house? For example, the small 2x3 (inside) huts could have 1-2 villagers and the large T-shaped one could have a dozen or so. Of course the total number of villagers would still be regulated by the number of doors in the village.
I can confirm that a village lost all its villagers rapidly, and that it seems like they are despawning due to distance from the player.
What I expected to happen was...:
A village stays populated with villagers even if you travel far, eg to an other village.
What actually happened was...:
A village that had kept all its villagers for many day-night cycles, lost all its villagers in one day-night cycle.
This happened when I travelled past my render distance.
I cannot attribute this to a zombie infection because zombies would not spawn that far from the player.
There's also the fact that zombie infections should take some time and leave traces: infected villagers, rotten flesh.
What if the number of villagers per house (at night time) was proportionate to the size of the house? For example, the small 2x3 (inside) huts could have 1-2 villagers and the large T-shaped one could have a dozen or so. Of course the total number of villagers would still be regulated by the number of doors in the village.