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 the Grim Reaper who plays a cameo depending on the method of death and the aspiration level of the Sim in question. The exception to this is the Cowplant death.

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A dog dies in the Sims 2

If there is a living Sim around they can plead for their loved one with the Grim Reaper, 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. The revived Sim then becomes a blue zombie and a fully interactive part of the household again, but they are more likely to cause accidents such as starting fires while cooking food.

There is a different animation for pets that die.

Unlike most legends of the Grim Reaper, he seems to be a kind being in the Sims, 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.

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. You can also revive Sims in Apartment Life and FreeTime with a witches' spell, or by a Genie and his lamp, respectively.

In The Sims 3, a special plant called a Death Flower can be grown with the Gardening skill. If a Sim carries this in his inventory and dies, The Grim Reaper will come for them, but the ghost will hastily offer him the flower. Seemingly deeply moved by this gesture, he will proceed to instantly resurrect the Sim. 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 your second chance to raise these motives before the Sim dies again, and this time, it'll be permanent (unless you happen to have another flower, of course.) And by cooking Ambrosia, you can bring a ghost sim back to life. And there is a way to revive a sim as a ghost, by using a science experiment, you can make a sim a ghost.

Types of deaths

Sims can be killed in many ways including 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 prolonged 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. You can also take away the pool ladder, and eventually, the Sim will drown because he/she can't get out.
• Fire: If a Sim is on fire for a period of time, he/she will die. It is also possible to randomly sprout into flames via spontanous combustion.
• Electrocution: If your Sim has low Mechanical skill, and tries to repair broken electric items or is struck by lightning, he/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.

The Sims 2

[[Video:Eighteen Ways To Kill A Sim|thumb|200px|Eighteen Ways To Kill A Sim]]

• Death by Disease: If your Sim uses the Biotech station while in a poor mood, there's a chance they will get a mysterious disease and might die.
• 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 all 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.
• 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 your 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 watching clouds (daytime) or stargazing without the telescope (nighttime), there is a very remote chance that a satellite will fall on your Sim. The satellite can be sold in buy mode, but it devalues quickly, so waste no time, sell it right away.
• Sickness: If your Sim gets ill and isn't cured in time, he/she may die, but Sims will usually get better if you let them relax.
• Electrocution: If your Sim isn't so good with Mechanical things and tries to repair broken electrical items, or is struck by lightning, he/she may die. Additionally, if your Sim is in a hot tub or a swimming pool when raining and a thunderstorm comes and your Sim has low needs levels (4 needs low) your Sims will be struck and die!

Sim dying of Old Age happily.

• Old age: When a Sim reaches the end of their life, 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 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. Your Sim will pick up his/her suitcase and walk off with the Grim Reaper. If your Sim had a disturbed or troubled life, where few wants were fulfilled or many bad things happened, the Grim Reaper will show your Sim its hourglass of life and your Sim will try and 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: (This is speculative.) 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.
• 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: Available with The Sims 2: University only. If a Sim attempts to 'take the bait' the hungry Cowplant offers, they will be eaten alive.

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 your Sim is pelted by hail too long, he/she will die.
• 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 your Sim. He/she will die.

The Sims 3

When a Sim dies, their grave will have a picture of how they died. All of his/her belongings are added to the family inventory, so the player won't lose them. Players can give a funeral party using the phone or cell phone to plan it just like normal parties and events. If a Sim dies you have the option to add the deceased back into your household as a ghost. You can resurrect a Sim ghost into a playable character by taking the urn to the science lab as mentioned in the Creature Section earlier in this article.

So far, five kinds of deaths have been confirmed.

• Fire (a flame)

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

Ghost is red and has smoke floating from their upper body.

• Drowning (hand being held above a wave for drowning)

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

Ghost is blue and it looks as if water is pouring off their body.

• Electrocution (an electric bolt)

Ages Possible : Teen, Young Adult, Adult, Elder

Ghost is yellow, they have a spark-like overlay on their bodies, and occasionally sparks will jump off of them.

• Starvation (a crossed knife and fork for hunger)

Ages Possible : Teen, Young Adult, Adult, Elder

Ghost is light purple / pink.

• Old Age (an hourglass for old age)

Ages Possible : Elder

Ghost is white and sparkly.

When A Sim dies dramatic music will start playing followed by the dramatic appearance by the Grim Reaper. The ghost will be flying in midair cloud and the Grim Reaper is doing the death chanting. Depending on the happiness of the person when they died they will beg for their life, or happily leave the place.

Different Ghosts also seem to behave a little differently (which is most likely based on a number of factors.) It's been noticed that Fiery Ghosts like to take showers and baths quite consistently, while others like the Starving Ghosts make lots of food.

It has also been observed that certain traits or sets of traits (Unlucky, loser, etc...) may cause The Grim Reaper to allow a dying Sim to live because he does not wish to deprive others of the amusement of the unfortunate Sims continuing demise. This has been confirmed.

The Sims 3: World Adventures

• Mummy's Curse (A Mummy's Head): 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.

Urns and Gravestones

An urn or gravestone appears on the lot when a Sim dies.

Cheats- Easy ways to die

If you have an unwanted Sim, or just like watching them die, there are many ways to do this quickly and effortlessly (Note that this only works on The Sims 2.)

Open up the cheat window while on the neighbourhood screen (control, shift, c) and type in boolprop testingcheatsenabled true. Then, go into a Sim house and shift-click on a Sim. Then click Spawn, and Rodney's Death Creator. Use this to kill a Sim in any way you choose. Also, because the boolprop cheat was activated in the neighbourhood screen, you can use it to toggle a Sim's needs meters up and down. This can be used to starve a Sim, or to save a Sim on the brink of death.

In The Sims or The Sims 2, you can simply kill an unwanted Sim by building a pool with no ladder out and get the Sim to dive into it. They will drown when they get too tired or too hungry.

In The Sims 3, you can use the same pool trick if you build a wall around it.

Pets and Death

Pets can die as well, although the only way is of old age, as a policeman/woman will take the pet away before starvation. Whenever a pet dies, the Grim Reaper will come to take the animal away. Other dogs on the lot will surround the Grim Reaper in a circle and howl. Cats arch their backs and hiss. Pet deaths have their own unique cinemas. A dog's death will result in the Grim Reaper throwing a stick and the dog fetching, while a cat is thrown a ball of yarn. Pets have their own Gravestone. A special memory is also added when a pet dies.