There are many ways a Sim can die.
There are also ways YOU can kill your Sims.
And there are ways Sims can (appear to) kill Sims.
FIRES
Cooking fire - to avoid this, make sure your Sims study cooking and place a fire alarm.
DROWNING
Drowning. It is very rare a Sim will drown without "help". Their instinct is to climb out of the pool, using any available ladder. But if he is very tired, or there is no ladder, it can happen, when his energy reaches -100.
OLD AGE
Old Age. Pretty unavoidable in normal gameplay but can be delayed forever if you have a supply of Elixir of Life. There are cheats and hacks to avoid this. If an elder Sim dies at hir allotted time, there will be an insurance payout to hir family or friends which depends on hir Aspiration level at the time of death. A Sim who dies in Platinum Aspiration will have a special tombstone.
STARVATION
Starvation. Watch your Active Sims, specially when pregnant - they are much more at risk from starvation than more lazy ones.
SATELLITE
Satellite - if the Sim stargazes by lying on the ground outside at night, there is a small chance a rogue satellite will fall on him. (The survivors can sell the satellite in Buy mode for a very good price!) There are hacks to increase the likelihood of this event.
FEAR
Fear. Sims can be scared to death by ghosts, when 3 needs drop below -90.
FLIES
The revenge of the flies: In a very dirty place, with gone-off food, a Sim can occasionally be eaten by a swarm of flies.
ELECTROCUTION
Electrocution - remember that water and electricity don't mix. Nor do Sims with low Mechanical skill and electrical devices.
RALLYE FORTH
Death by Rallye Forth - Open For Business - excessive use of Rallye Forth when needs are low can cause death. I assume it uses more energy and lowers motives.
WEATHER
Death by Freezing - Seasons again. Sim can be revived by warm weather or rain (frozen), or by another Sim using the Warm Up interaction on the sufferer. (A hairdryer!)
ELEVATOR
COWPLANT
Death by Cowplant - University.
RUN WITH SCISSORS
Run with Scissors - for teen and older Sims - download from the main EA site. The Sim drops dead, presumably after stabbing hirself. This is much more likely to kill Sims with low Logic. Arguably caused by the Simmer by placing the object on the Lot...
This isn't really a way YOU can kill a Sim. Unless you are evil and put a disease hack into your game.
Sims' disease hits comfort, cleanliness and bladder. So if you keep your Sim well rested and clean, they will recover quickly. If a fatal disease is not treated for ten days the Sim will die. Every disease can be cured with about 12 collective (not necessarily consecutive) hours of sleep, lounging, sitting, or relaxing.
Sims' sickness is usually more curable with later EPs. If you want a really fatal illness, you can download a hacked version from More Awesome Than You; there are two versions in that thread. One will kill far more Sims than the other so read carefully. I use the gentler of the two, by Pioupiou, which you can download here.
With PiouPiou's mod, Sims very occasionally get sick. If cared for, as in, made to rest, sit or lie down, fed and kept clean, they get over it. If ignored, 3 or 4 days in, they die. Death does come "suddenly" with this mod, in that the needs don't bottom out so it's fairly unexpected.
One reliable ingame cure is the Grandma's Comfort Soup which a Sim with Family inclinations can make. Another is the medicine made with the Science Career Reward.
| Cold | Coughing, Sneezing | 1% chance of catching a cold anytime Sim goes to work or school | Highly Contagious | If left untreated becomes Pneumonia |
| Flu | Coughing, Diarrhoea | Up to 5% chance from roaches. A crazy (ie broken) Cleanbot is a very effective way to introduce this to a lot. | Highly contagious | Potentially Fatal |
| Pneumonia | Coughing, Fatigue | Source: Untreated Cold | Slightly Contagious | Potentially Fatal |
| Food Poisoning | Vomiting, Nausea | 5% chance when eating spoiled food | Non contagious | Fatal if left untreated |
| Virus | 2 random symptoms | Mishandling of Virus created with Biotech Station: severity is determined by Logic skill and manifested by darkness of the colour of the vial. Sims in the Science career sometimes come home from work infected with this virus. |
Highly contagious | Potentially fatal |
See Pescado's detailed research on Sims 2 illnesses.
Fire - cooking fires are often a result of a Sim with little or no cooking skill and no fire alarm... unlucky Sims may well perish in the fire. While this is an accident, if YOU don't put in a fire alarm, you have only yourself to blame - and you deserve your Sims coming back to haunt you!
Drowning - remove pool ladder when Sim is in swimming pool. This is the oldest way and goes right back to Sims 1; was highly popular in The Sims Online (later called EALand).
Sickness - as noted above.
Sims can kill Sims by means of:
Rifle from SimWardrobe.
Electric chair by Simslice.
Different styles of death produce ghosts of different colours.
| Fire | Red and smoking |
| Drowning | Blue, drops puddles of water |
| Electrocution | Yellow. Sparking and occasionally electrify. |
| Starvation | Transparent. Steals food from fridge. |
| Old Age | White |
| Disease | Green |
| Fear | Pink |
| Flies | Purple |
| Satellite | Orange |
| Hail | Dark Pink |
| Lightening | Yellow? |
| Elevator | Transparent |
| Evil kite | Yellow |
| Cowplant | Light Green |
| Sunlight | Transparent |
| Rallye Forth | Ghosts have a cone and continue to rallye (sp) forth! |
Ghosts will! get jealous if a spouse still lives on the lot, particularly if she remarries; they tend to pop up in the bedroom at awkward times... or if strangers move into their houses.
If a Sim is a vampire, werewolf, zombie, when resurrected they come back as whatever creature they were, not as the "human" Sim. There seems to be no way to restore a zombie: once a zombie, always a zombie.
Ghosts get very angry if their tombstone is kicked or damaged. And angry ghosts are bad news.
Ghosts cannot cross foundation boundaries without stairs. This can slow their entry to your Sims' house. Or build them a mausoleum, and take away the stairs.
They also cannot cross pond water, or pool water without a bridge or board, just as any Sim. They CAN go through walls of houses if the house has no foundation, so making house on a foundation slows their entry.
For seeing ghosts in the cemetery, have living family members visit; ghosts usually appear between 9PM and 5 or 6 AM.
To encourage their appearance, a disturbance in the Force helps - for example,
have a money Sim's family member waste money! or send an unmarried, childless
Sim to visit the grave of a family Sim's ghost.
In other words, irritate the ghost to cause it
to rise from its grave.
Pet ghosts will appear randomly when their masters are around.
You can use the Resurrect-O-Nomitron to resurrect Sims your Sim knew. Don't spend more than §8,513 on the Ressurect-O-Nomitron, as spending more will not decrease the chance of a Zombie appearance!
If a Sim dies on a Community Lot you can now exit the Lot without saving, and before the Ghost leaves the Lot, to return to a Sim still full of life!
Sita January 30, 2019