Punishment (also known as Consequences) is the authoritative imposition of something unpleasant or negative on a Sim in response to crimes or poor behavior. Fines have always been the most common form of punishment in The Sims series, but more recent games have featured other forms of punishment.
Military School
In The Sims, if a child's school grades remains at F (failing) for several consecutive days, the child will be taken to military school, and will be removed from the game. Children sent to military school are no longer playable, cannot be retrieved or even viewed by the player, are permanently lost. Other children in the household whose grades are at a D- or above are allowed to remain. A warning message will be displayed when grades fall to D or lower.
Repossession and cuts
Not paying bills on time will result in negative consequences a Sim households. A repo-man is sent to remove items from a Sim's house[TS][TS2][TS3] or power and water will be cut[TS4] if bills remain unpaid for an extended period of time. Build and buy mode are disabled during this time in order to prevent the player from thwarting the agent's efforts. In The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, Sims react to repossessions in the same way they react to having items stolen by a burglar. In The Sims 4: City Living expansion pack, failure to pay bills will also mean that the landlord may refuse to check out problems in the apartments.
Visit from the social worker
The social worker appears in the first three main installments of The Sims series. One of her main responsibilities is to remove babies, toddlers and children from households where they are being neglected, such as if they are left at home alone[TS2] or allowed to starve[TS2][TS3]. Once alerted by a young Sim's distress, she will remove all babies, toddlers and children from a household, even if only one was being neglected; the only exception being The Sims, where only babies can be taken away due to neglect. In The Sims 2 she also replaces the military school function from The Sims, as she removes any children from the household whose grades drop to an F (the equivalent teen punishment for poor grades is the loss of a part-time job and/or being unable to go to college). In The Sims and The Sims 4, babies taken away due to neglect are then permanently lost from the game. In The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, young Sims who are removed are not permanently lost, but are available for adoption by other families. However, families who have already had one or more children taken away by the social worker are unable to adopt from that time onwards, meaning that they cannot simply re-adopt their own children once they have been taken away ; however, any children naturally conceived after the social worker's intervention will be allowed to remain, provided their parents do not neglect them.[TS2] The social worker will never intervene on behalf of a teen or older Sim.
In The Sims 3: Pets, the social worker will intervene if pets are neglected of needs, and will remove all pets even if only one was being neglected. Pets removed by the social worker are permanently lost.
In The Sims 4, the social worker does not appear on-screen; instead the neglected young Sim (but not necessarily all young Sims in the household) permanently disappears in a puff of smoke and the message "Due to neglect, [Sim Name] has been whisked away to safety. Maybe you should try a goldfish before parenting again" is displayed. However, the offending household will not be disqualified from adopting in the immediate future.
Although not quite a punishment, the social worker will take away babies, toddlers and children if the last older Sim (i.e. teen and above) in their household dies, starting with The Sims 2.
Lecture
In The Sims 2, teens who are caught sneaking out will be lectured by their parents. A Sim of any age may be lectured if a computer or appliance breaks after they use it, if the lecturing Sim is in the room when the item breaks. Neighbors who are caught smashing the Will Lloyd Wright Dollhouse will also be lectured, regardless of age. Oddly, when a baby or toddler suffers a bladder failure in the crib, they may be lectured.[n 1]
A lecture will cause a drop in the relationship between the two Sims, but there is no other effect on either Sim.
Detention
In The Sims 3, if a student slacks off in school, they will receive detention. Detention forces a student to stay an extra two hours at school which can interfere with part-time jobs and after school activities. During this time, the student will be unable to influence their grades and will receive the negative detention moodlet. Students with higher grades are less likely to get detention.
Jail
In The Sims, Sims in the top levels of the Criminal career track could randomly receive a career chance card, the potential negative outcome of which would result in them being sent to jail (off-screen) for a period of game time.
Sims who are in the Criminal career track in The Sims 3 run the risk of being sent to jail every time they go to work. If a criminal is sent to jail, they cannot be promoted on that day and job performance may suffer. While in prison, Sims can choose to work out to improve Athleticism, befriend other inmates, play dominoes, or simply serve their time peacefully.
Although they will not be imprisoned, teen Sims in The Sims 2 who are caught sneaking out with friends after dark without receiving parental permission, and their equivalents in The Sims 3 who break the town's 11PM curfew, run the risk of being caught by the police and escorted home in a squad car, resulting in a stern lecture from their parents and a negative memory/moodlet of being arrested.
Parental Punishment
In The Sims 3: Generations and The Sims 4: Parenthood, children and teenagers can be punished by their parents in many different ways.
The Sims 3: Generations
In The Sims 3: Generations, if a parent sees their child doing something wrong such as playing a prank, being mean, or skipping school they will automatically walk over and punish their child; this interaction cannot be cancelled by the player. Mild mischief will only result in a scolding that gives the child a bad moodlet, but serious or repeated rule breaking will result in harsher forms of punishment. The child can have their punishment ended early by earning their parents' forgiveness. To earn forgiveness, the child must do their chores, such as cleaning or doing their homework.
Scolding
Scoldings are the mildest parental punishment. Being scolded gives the child the negative "Got in Trouble" moodlet. Getting in trouble while having this moodlet will result in a time-out.
Time-Out
During a time-out, the child is ordered to stand in a corner for one hour while having the negative "Time-Out" moodlet. If the child is caught leaving time-out before the moodlet expires, he/she will have his/her privileges revoked. Teenagers can also be put in time-out.
Privileges Revoked
More serious infractions are punished with having privileges revoked for one day. The child is given the "Privileges Revoked" moodlet and is not allowed to watch TV, play video games, or use the computer. The child will be grounded if they are caught doing so anyway.
Grounding
Grounding is the harshest form of parental punishment in The Sims 3: Generations. Groundings are reserved for very serious infractions such as vandalizing the school, breaking curfew, or open defiance. The grounded child will receive the negative "Grounded" moodlet and will not be allowed to leave the house for the next two days. Grounded children and teens can attempt to sneak out when their parents are asleep or not around, but will have their grounding extended if they are caught. There is a bug, however, that makes teens unable to go to school while grounded, which can lead to further punishments from parents for "skipping school". If they attempt to go to school, they will be deemed to have snuck out. Both outcomes ultimately lead to an increase in the grounding period. This can be overcome, however, by getting a parent to tell the child/teen to "go to school!" (friendly social action). However, when they come home they will be scolded and the grounding will repeat itself. Sometimes the teen will sneak around even if they are in the house, and they may continue to sneak indefinitely after the grounding has ended.
The Sims 4: Parenthood
In The Sims 4: Parenthood, punishments are mostly chosen by the player, rather than being autonomous. If a parent notice their child doing misbehavior such as swearing, making a mess or being mean to other Sims, the parent can punish the misbehaving child in many ways ranging from time outs to grounding. Children can however ignore the punishments, decreasing their character values. The parent needs to level up their parenting skill in order to unlock more punishments and higher success rates and can also to talk to the other Sim before deciding on a punishment.
Scolding
Scolding is the mildest and first punishment parents can do to their children. They are divided into three categories, all of which have two options (Except for the "Strict" category, which only has one).
Influencing and Forcing
Influencing or forcing misbehaving children or teens is the second mildest option of punishment. Parents can choose from parenting options either "Influence To..." or "Force To..." which both open a menu of different activities that the parent can make the child to do. Influencing to do things is a more milder way to punish the children, while forcing is more harsher and can be used if the child is rebellious against the influencing.
Time-Out
Time-outs are unlocked by parents after reaching level four in the parenting skill. During a time-out children are ordered to sit down and await for the 30 minute countdown to complete. After having a time-out the child will gain either a bored or a sad moodlet.
Grounding
Grounding is unlocked after reaching level five in parenting skill and is the the harshest form of parental punishment. There are multiple ways to ground a child ranging from not using the phone to not leaving the home. When grounded, the child will gain a tense moodlet and can try to disobey it by doing the prohibited actions secretly. If the child is noticed disobeying his/hers grounding, the parent will autonomously scold them, giving the child another tense moodlet. There can only be one grounding per day, unless the child hasn't been noticed to disobey it, as parents can also give the child another grounding or time-out for doing so.
The Stocks
In The Sims Medieval, minor crimes are punished by a trip to the stocks. A trip to the stocks will result in the negative Humiliated by Stocks buff which lasts for five hours after release. While imprisoned in the stocks, Sims are vulnerable to being pelted with eggs and tomatoes which will worsen the Humiliated by Stocks buff.
Execution
In The Sims Medieval, major crimes are punished by execution in the form of being fed to the pit beast. Sims who are high level heroes may be able to survive a trip to the pit beast, but most Sims will not.