Death

Death is a state in which a Sim dies. Following Death, the Sim that has died is no longer controllable, and focus will automatically switch to the next Sim currently living on the lot. Causes of death can be anything from an accident to a predetermined fate made by the game and/or player.

Grim Reaper

The Sim in question is visited by the anthropomorphic personification of Death in the form of the Grim Reaper. However, the Grim Reaper does not come when a Sim is eaten by the Cowplant from The Sims 2: University, or when a Toadified Sim is eaten by a dragon in The Sims: Makin' Magic. In The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, the Grim Reaper plays a cameo depending on the method of death and the aspiration level of the Sim in question.

Unlike most legends of the Grim Reaper, he seems to be a kind being in The Sims series. His personality is perhaps a reference to the personified Death character in Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" novels. His nice side shows when a kind Sim dies of old age, during the animation of a pet's death, or resurrecting kids with the Resurrect-O-Nomitron.

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A dog dies in The Sims 2

In The Sims 2, if there is a living Sim around they can plead to the Grim Reaper for their loved one but it doesn't always work. The chances of success are determined by the relationship of the Sim with the nearly deceased, and pure chance. In The Sims, the Grim Reaper may be in a bad mood, and bring the deceased Sim back as a zombie. In The Sims 3, depending on the how happy the Sim was when they died, they can beg for their life.

There is a different animation for pets that die.

Reviving

Death, however, isn't always permanent. With a wide range of items and/or cheats, a Sim can be given a second chance in life.

• In The Sims: Unleashed, a Sim can go to Old Town and ask Miss Lucille to revive a zombie family member (human or pet), or even to resurrect a dead one.

• In The Sims 2: University, there is a special item, the Resurrect-O-Nomitron, which can restore Sims but for a hefty fee of up to §10,000. If the Sim who wants to bring another Sim back pays very little the Sim will return as a zombie, with reversed personality and possibly less or no skills, except for children. Female zombies are also infertile and can no longer have babies.

• In The Sims 2: Apartment Life, Sims can be revived with a witches' spell.

• In The Sims 2: FreeTime, Sims can be revived with a Genie and his lamp.

• In The Sims 3, there is a special plant called a Death Flower. If a Sim is carrying this flower in his/her inventory at their time of death, when The Grim Reaper shows up, the ghost will offer him the flower. Seemingly deeply moved by this gesture, the Grim Reaper will proceed to instantly resurrect the Sim. A Sim can be resurrected once for every Death Flower in his inventory. However, it seems that the Sim in question will be suffering from any lowered motives, just to a lesser degree, so it is incredibly important to use this second chance to raise these motives before the Sim dies again.
• The Grim Reaper will also give another chance to Sims who have the Loser or Unlucky trait if their death was accidental, but will come for them when their time on the mortal coil is up.
• By cooking Ambrosia, a ghost Sim can be brought back to life once he/she eats it.
• There is a way to revive a Sim as a ghost, by using a science experiment.
• In The Sims Castaway Stories, a special potion can be made to revive a dead Sim.

Intentional Death

Players can utilize various cheats, objects or game features to intentionally kill a Sim. This may be done for multiple reasons. Ways include:

• Using the boolprop testingcheatsenabled cheat in The Sims 2 to spawn Rodney's Death Creator. This object can kill a Sim in any way.
• Using the boolprop testingcheatsenabled cheat to lower a Sim's hunger need, thus starving them to death.
• Trapping a Sim in a pool by removing all pool ladders or by building a wall around the pool (in The Sims 3) preventing the Sim from exiting the pool when their motives drop too low. Eventually, the Sim trapped in the pool will drown.
• Trapping a Sim in a room, then by some means starting a fire in that room.
• Using cheats to trigger aging in an Elderly Sim in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3; since Elder is the oldest life stage, getting older than this results in death.

Killing Sims tutorial for The Sims 3: FuryRed's Ghost Guide

Types of deaths

Sims can be killed in a variety of ways which vary by game version. These include death by fire, shock, starvation, flies, being eaten by the cow plant and being scared to death.

The Sims

• Starvation: If a Sim doesn't eat for a long period of time (several days), they will starve.
• Drowning: If a Sim uses a swimming pool for much too long, they might drown (possibly even a little after leaving the pool). Swimming with low energy will also drown them. Players can also take away the pool ladder once the Sim is in the pool, and eventually the Sim will drown because he/she can't get out.

An soon-to-be-dead Sim.

• Fire: If a Sim is on fire for a period of time, he/she will die. It is also possible for a Sim to randomly burst into flames via spontaneous combustion, though that is very uncommon.
• Electrocution: If a Sim uses electrical items while standing in a puddle, or has low Mechanical skill and tries to repair broken electric items, he or she may die.
• Disease: When a Sim plays with a guinea pig with a dirty cage, the guinea pig may bite and infect the Sim with a disease. The disease is contagious, and a Sim infected with it will die if not treated.
• It has been reported that Sims can die of fright if they see a ghost while their hunger meter is low.
• In The Sims: Makin' Magic, a Sim who has been turned into a toad may be eaten by a dragon. Cats may also eat toadified Sims if The Sims: Unleashed is installed. When Sims die in this way, they will not be visited by the Grim Reaper.

The Sims 2

thumb|right|200px|Eighteen Ways To Kill A Sim

• Disease: If a Sim uses the Biotech station with low hygiene, or while in a poor mood, there's a chance they will get a mysterious disease, which may be fatal.
• Starvation: If a Sim doesn't eat for a prolonged period of time (several days), they will starve. However, babies, children and Toddlers will be taken away by the Social Worker instead if their hunger need is low enough for too long.

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A Sim dying by fire.

• Fire: If a Sim with a low cooking skill cooks a meal there is a chance it will catch fire. Similarly, if the food is left in the oven by a careless Sim or, very probably, a Nanny or a Butler, the food will also catch fire. If there is no fire alarm present it is up to the Sim to put out the fire. This can be done by calling the fire department or by clicking on the fire and choosing 'extinguish'. There is no way to buy a fire alarm during a fire, as build mode and buy mode are disabled. The longer a Sim is in proximity to the fire (and because Sims are autonomously brought to the fire to perform the "panic" action, a.k.a. "the Simish Fire Dance", they will be) the greater the chance is that they will catch fire. When three of their motives are completely depleted the Sim will die. In Apartment Life, if a fire breaks out on an apartment lot, all household Sims venture out onto the street, thus, minimizing their chances of being burned. The chance of dying in a fire is also minimized if the Sim has finished studying about Fire Safety.
• Drowning: If a Sim uses a swimming pool without a pool ladder while they are in it, they will eventually use up their energy and die. This is perhaps the only way to kill children without hacks or mods in the game.
• Flies: If a lot is messy with many fly-infested objects, there is a chance all the lot flies could form a killer swarm when a Sim steps over a fly-infested object and eat the Sim alive.
• Fright: If a Sim sees a ghost, his/her motives fall drastically. If the critical needs (hunger, energy, etc.) fall far enough, the Sim will die. However, a child cannot be killed by fright and will wet themselves instead.
• Satellite: While a Sim is watching clouds (daytime) or stargazing without the telescope (nighttime), there is a very remote chance that a satellite will fall on him/her. The satellite can be sold in buy mode, but it devalues quickly, so waste no time, sell it right away. This is one of the few things that can kill a Servo.
• Sickness: If a Sim gets ill and isn't cured in time, he/she may die, but Sims will usually get better if the player lets them relax.
• Electrocution: If a Sim isn't so good with Mechanical things and tries to repair broken electrical items, he/she may die.

Sim dying of Old Age happily.

• Old age: When Sims reach the end of their lives, they will die of old age. This is the only time in which a living Sim will not be able to plead with the Grim Reaper to bring the dying Sim back. If a Sim has platinum mood at the time of death, the Grim Reaper and 2 Hula Zombies will appear and relaxing music will play. The Sim will pick up his/her suitcase and walk off with the Grim Reaper. If the Sim had a disturbed or troubled life, where few wants were fulfilled or many bad things happened, the Grim Reaper will show the Sim its hourglass of life and the Sim will try to pull it away from the Grim Reaper.
• Death for no reason: Some Sims die for no reason, the "mysterious choking death". This is a bug that has been fixed by patches and in later expansions. It is caused by a mistake in the disease coding.
• Devastating events/Sadness: There's a chance that Sims can die when he/she gets too many negative events happening suddenly. This happens when a Sim encounters too many negative events in a short period of time (e.g. Death of Relatives/Demoted at job). The Sim will start crying and thinks about one of the events and eventually die. Sims usually stop thinking about negative events that occurred to them after one day. This can also happen after the sim went into aspiration failure, but is quite uncommon for that to happen.
• Scissors: If the player downloads Running with Scissors Playset from the Maxis site and a Sim runs with them, there's a chance he may fall and get stabbed. (requires download at TheSims2.com)

The Sims 2: University

• Cowplant: Sims who attempt to 'take the bait' the hungry Cowplant offers will be eaten alive. The Grim Reaper does not come when Sims are eaten by the Cowplant.

The Sims 2: Nightlife

• Sunlight: When a vampire Sim stays in the sunlight for too long, he or she will die.

The Sims 2: Open for Business

• Rally Forth: If a Sim with the "Rally Forth" business perk uses it when their needs are too low, they will eventually choke from shouting into the Rally Forth megaphone and die.
• Elevators: If the elevator breaks down while Sims are in it, and their needs fail, then they will die.
• Evil Kite: The kite was made poorly and attracts lightning when flown. This works like the electrocution death, and will not kill children.

The Sims 2: Seasons

• Hail: When at least 4 needs drop below 50% while standing in a hailstorm, and the Sim is pelted by hail too long, he/she will die. When the ghost of the Sim who perished is mad, hail will pop out of their body.
• Lightning: If lightning were to hit a Sim who is using a hot tub or pool, that Sim will die if his or her needs are low.
• Sack of Money: If a Sim wishes for money from the wishing well and it fails, a sack of only §50 will fall on his/her head, and if their needs are too low, they will perish. The actual death is from starvation, and the ghost reflects this.

The Sims 2: Apartment Life

• Murphy Bed: When opening the Murphy bed, if a Sim has less than 5 body skill and -70 or less mood, there is a 5% chance that it will fall on and crush the Sim, killing him/her.

Their ghost avoids the bed that killed them.

The Sims 2: Pets (console)

• Sims do not age, and cannot die by any means.

The Sims 3

Sims' graves have insignias of how they died.

There are five kinds of deaths in The Sims 3 base game:

• Fire (flame insignia): Ghost is red / orange and has smoke floating from their upper body.

Ages Possible: Child, Teen, Young Adult, Adult, Elder

• Drowning (insignia of hand being held above a wave): Ghost is blue and has water dripping off of their body.

Ages Possible: Child, Teen, Young Adult, Adult, Elder

• Electrocution (insignia of an electric bolt): Ghost is yellow with a spark-like overlay on their bodies, and occasionally sparks will jump off of them.

Ages Possible: Teen, Young Adult, Adult, Elder

• Starvation (insignia of a crossed fork and knife): Ghost is light purple / pink. They will have the lowest fitness and fatness settings.

Ages Possible: Teen, Young Adult, Adult, Elder

• Old Age (insignia of an hourglass): Ghost is white and sparkly.

Ages Possible: Elder

The Sims 3: World Adventures

• Mummy's Curse (A Pharaoh's Head) (Black Ghost): A Sim can die by the mummy curse if they lose a fist fight with a mummy and don't plead their case with the sphinx in 2 weeks time.

Ages Possible: Teen, Young Adult, Adult, Elder

• Death by Traps (Varies): Some traps, if not properly avoided, can result in the death of an adventurer Sim.

The Sims 3: Ambitions

• Death by meteor has been confirmed.

Other theories about a new type of death, all unconfirmed and unsubstantiated at this point in time, include:

• Earthquakes, which are confirmed to be in the Firefighter career, but may not cause death.
• Choking or illness may appear due to the Medical career revamp.