I let sims die, I don't quit without saving. I never kill sims on purpose, though I have higher chances of death for some things - real sickness as mentioned, ghosts remain on apocalypse lots, I don't have fire alarms, they have to extinguish the fire themselves unless it gets to big at which point they ^call^ the fire brigade. I find the fire alarm too cheaty since the fire engine arrives immediately. I don't always check mechanical skill level before letting sims fix things, especially if they seem the type to attempt it themselves. Very very occasionally I might have one sim "kill" another, but I can't lock them in a room, it feels too mean, so they have to work out some more nefarious plans.

I'm interested to see that so many disallow pleading! I can usually not help myself. I see it as a non-cheaty way of having a chance at saving them, and it gives a nice memory as well. I tend to see it mentally as a metaphor; what really happened was the sim performed CPR and/or called an ambulance, dragged them from the flames/water/knocked off the power at the last minute, the accident victim had a near-death experience, but didn't actually die. I do think the chances are too high, though, so I don't always try too hard to get someone to them and might deliberately choose someone with a lower relationship score. In my apocalypse hood pleading is allowed, I see it as weighting a disadvantage for living alone.

In my normal hoods the family might keep an urn around for a while but usually the graves go to the cemetery, unless I really feel I want ghosts on the lot for whatever reason.

Oh, and resurrection, I have never done in a serious hood, only when playing around/cheating somewhat. In my normal/Maxis hood, nobody has got that far in a career. Apocalypse hood, it's not unlocked yet (although some dead sims can be resurrected, only as zombies or vampires), in my latest challenge hood, I resurrected one sim with the genie lamp.

Is death something that you'll usually exit without saving to avoid, or do you just alter your storyline to account for it?
No-if it is within the context of the storyline (an elder whose time has come) I do not avoid death. Can't avoid it in real life, nor in a game.

Are the loved ones of the deceased allowed to bargain with the Reaper, or does Grimmy stand apart from the mortal world, only there to usher the soul of the deceased into the netherworld?
Only when the loved ones (and the deceased) have the wants to save the deceased from death..it rarely happens.

Do most of your Sims make it to dying peacefully of old age, or does some tragedy usually cut their lives short first?
Yes..they're long-lived usually. The very rare 'accidents' tend to be of stupid things they've done to hasten their demise.

-Do tombstones and urns stay with the family, or are they relegated to a community cemetery?
Off to the cemetery! No urns or tombstones at the house, please!

-Is resurrection likely, or does a dead Sim have no hope of returning to the mortal world?
Death is the final act. Zombies do not exist in either my real world or theirs.

What are your living Sims' cultural attitudes towards the ghosts and apparitions of those who've died?
The knowledge sims love ghosts. Others are not quite so happy with them..although there are some pixels who wish to see the ghost of a particularly irritating sim with a vengeance.

I have just tested both mods, in a test hood.
Everything works, this is..ingenious..
Embrace turns them into vampires, as it should be.
deadly bite kills them. Reaper comes etc. I won't tell you what color ghosts are..just for the fun of it.
And of course, bite neck feeds them, all the way to a full green bar.
I will love those mods.
Edit to add, one of them conflicts with creaturefixes. As HCDU says. But as read on creaturefixes thread, as long as your vampire mods loads after, it will be fine.
So I put my vamps mod in a folder named Vampires, and creaturefixes in a folder called..CreatureFixes.
Seems to be working A1.

death in my game is a non sequitur

I play soap opera style if you've ever watched one you know exactly what I mean.

With me, it all depends on the story I'm telling at the time but generally, when they die they die. I don't exit without saving. I have plea bargained in some cases where that was appropriate to the story. They mostly get sent off to the local churchyards or, if not religious, the council-run cemetary. I've resurrected sims but it's not an option for most families - time marches on and there are always new stories to tell. In fact, now I think about it, the only sims I've resurrected have all been zombies. And resurrected because I don't like the sim usually. Hmmm.

The thing about Little Carping is that I'm allowed to tell any story I like there (which is why I've been playing it for so long) and so the community is mixed and very varied and neighbourhood doesn't have a theme even though it looks like an English village next to a large town (Carping Magna) near a city (Sirencester). As a consequence, things like attitudes to death are very inconsistent. It's also why I have supernaturals in an apparently 'normal' setting. I like the idea of pockets of weirdness.

@simsfreq: That's an interesting way of looking at the pleading thing, actually. I hadn't thought of it that way. Still, I agree that the success rate with pleading is far too high, particularly because the higher the relationship, the better the chances. Since my households are usually pretty darn harmonious and everyone loves each other (I suck at dysfunctional families ), I imagine there'd be a high success rate. And, honestly, I really don't want that. Usually, when a pixel is dying of old age, I'm ready to see them go so I can concentrate on the younger generation(s). However, if the success rate could be modded.... Hmmm.... OR, I suppose I could do a 1-100 number generation to see if pleading will happen, with a low percent chance of it happening...

Anyway, thanks for the food for thought!

@Rosebine: Thanks for the info, dear! I'll give it a run in my test neighborhood, see if things work right alongside the rest of my hundreds of mods.

-Is death something that you'll usually exit without saving to avoid, or do you just alter your storyline to account for it?
Depends. If I think the death is somehow "unfair" - like the time Red Onions had a satellite drop on him when I didn't even know he was on the telescope and it was already too late to plead by the time I realized his portrait was gone and figured out where he was on the lot - or if the death actually reduces the effect of a storyline (especially if it's my fault), like the time I tried to get Lana Mann three extra days with Elixir because it's a cop-out if her conflict with her son is resolved by her death rather than by character actions, and her mood decayed literally as she was drinking the stuff, with her husband at work and her son too angry with her to even get the option to plead - then I'll quit without compunction. Death on-screen, by normal game hazard, in character, throwing my plans into a cocked hat - grin and bear it. Of such things are drama made.

-Are the loved ones of the deceased allowed to bargain with the Reaper, or does Grimmy stand apart from the mortal world, only there to usher the soul of the deceased into the netherworld?
They'll bargain if they get a chance. That's a matter of being on-hand with the Heimlich maneuver/CPR/tourniquet/rug to beat the fire out/nitroglyserin pills/whatever. Sims with genie lamps also get to wish to cheat death if I like them enough.

-Do most of your Sims make it to dying peacefully of old age, or does some tragedy usually cut their lives short first?
Old age is by far the most common death in Drama Acres and Strangetown. And Widespot, but there's only been one death there (not counting Angel's death in development, which is a different matter).

-Do tombstones and urns stay with the family, or are they relegated to a community cemetery?
They stay at least until the ghost spawns; and probably awhile after that, until the ghost becomes inconvenient. Drama Acres Dora Ottomas died in the red and terrorized her family; but Marie and Pierre Curian died permaplat and both their son and their daughter-in-law are Knowledge sims, so they'll probably get to hang around quite awhile. Angel Hart, interestingly, has appeared once to her husband's second wife, once to one of her son's baby mamas (who is Knowledge, and appreciated it), manifested for a cop who came to bust up a party, and has manifested several times when only her husband's daughter by his second wife was around to see. Rhein is a little spooked, but not terrified. Angel never, ever appears to her husband or children, and appears mostly curious about the new people in their lives. I'll keep her around at least until her husband sees her - at the moment, he doesn't believe in ghosts, and thinks "the ladies" are letting their imaginations run away with them.

Mostly character and story are the determinant for when a ghost gets shipped to the cemetery. I have a pet cemetery but nobody's buried there yet, as the pet ghosts are generally pretty well-behaved. I should have sent the urn of Spring Thyme, a teen who died in a fire, to the cemetery as soon as her ghost manifested, because she was a mean one - partly because she died in a fire, partly because the fire caused her father to miss work, lose a day's pay, and get demoted, so they were desperate for cash and I accidentally sold the bed she considered hers. But Hi Thyme was having some deep guilts and had a little shrine for her urn, which I figured he'd be unable to bring himself to dismantle.

-Is resurrection likely, or does a dead Sim have no hope of returning to the mortal world?
If the death is old age, it's unlikely. If the sim dies untimely - well, I've tried. But I wrote myself into a corner with Hi Thyme - he couldn't bring himself to move or to move Spring's urn, but Spring tormented him viciously while he was alien pregnant, and I was afraid she'd also torment the baby. So I used one of his other girl's connections to obtain a bone phone, and brought her back, and that's giving me interesting Drama, as Spring, who was the oldest, is now the youngest; and she's positively obsessing over her old boyfriend, who is now married and has a kid. And Ivy Copur, who died in a fire at the sorority, kept losing her tombstone and would not go to the cemetery no matter what I did! I don't know whether this is a problem with dying on University or yet one more sign of the ongoing corruption in Drama Acres. So I resurrected her with a genie lamp as the only practical solution, and now she's going to become a Cult Leader, as the first person to be resurrected in Drama Acres. And I've got a dead alien pregnant guy who I've always regretted, and I'm bringing him back this rotation because the household he's haunting is too tame, and this will liven it up and make me feel better about killing him in the first place.

TL;DR - if it's fun, or solves a problem for me, back they come!

-What are your living Sims' cultural attitudes towards the ghosts and apparitions of those who've died?
Depends on the individual and the culture. Valentine Hart doesn't believe in ghosts; his son Rhett thinks if Mama were really haunting of course he'd be the one she allowed to see her; his second wife Mary thinks it's more sad than scary (which isn't to say seeing her predecessor didn't startle her some); his daughter-in-law Penny thinks it's cool and hopes to get a chance to conduct experiments; his daughter Rhein knows Miss Angel is haunting and has mixed feelings of sadness/spookedness/specialness. If one of her children ever gets a genie lamp, I'll have to give serious thought to whether any of them should be allowed to bring her back, and what the repercussions of that might be.

Sims in Drama Acres fall on a similar spectrum, but since resurrection has happened there, obviously they know it's possible. No consensus on the hows and whys has been achieved. Drama Acres sims have no religion as we'd understand it, though, so no one has to reconcile it with unfalsifiable beliefs.


I actually don't think that's true. It's hard to quantify in this big, amorphous fandom what is and is not a majority practice, but my impression is that most people on this board allow (or require) death to be final, and a lot of challenges and playstyles would soon grow unwieldy, or impossible to play, if this were not so. Imagine a Legacy in which the Founder never died; or a Test of Time in which the first generation hung around into Roman times! Many challenges, like ToT and Warwickshire, require the player to kill people off fairly frequently.

Plus some people just enjoy killing sims.

This is an interesting topic.

-Is death something that you'll usually exit without saving to avoid, or do you just alter your storyline to account for it?
I never exit without saving (big rules player here). So, if a Sim(s) dies during a game play session, I just have to deal with it and make the most of a bad situation. I play with Free Will On always, and have a few of mods that can sometimes affect a Sims health, as well as their ability to recover quickly from illness.

So, there have been a few times now when I've lost Sims and have found myself saying "OK, that was unexpected. Um...where do I go from here with this household?".


-Are the loved ones of the deceased allowed to bargain with the Reaper, or does Grimmy stand apart from the mortal world, only there to usher the soul of the deceased into the netherworld?
Sometimes...if a loved one is nearby. Though, a Sim is only ever allowed to cheat death once...period - and I consider it a lifesaving medical emergency for realism's sake. So, a hefty medical expense (§20,000) is billed to the Sim/household. This may not seem like a big deal, but the majority of my Sims don't have that kind of simoleons to spare. Elders, are not allowed to be plead for as I consider them passing away due to natural causes (even if it's really from illness or an accident).

Also, the Sim pleading must be a close family member and/or best friend - not just a casual acquaintance who wouldn't realistically care enough to be bothered.


-Do most of your Sims make it to dying peacefully of old age, or does some tragedy usually cut their lives short first?
Sadly, illness or random accidents (sometimes I will also roll a die to determine if some random disaster will take place in the neighborhood) has taken more lives than old age.


-Do tombstones and urns stay with the family, or are they relegated to a community cemetery?
After Sims die, they go to one of two cemeteries in town.


-Is resurrection likely, or does a dead Sim have no hope of returning to the mortal world?
Once a Sim is gone, gone...that's it for them. I don't do resurrections.


-What are your living Sims' cultural attitudes towards the ghosts and apparitions of those who've died?
Once deceased Sims are sent to the cemetery, that's pretty much where it ends for those they leave behind. I'm not big on the ghost aspect, so loved ones just have to get on with their lives.

Occasionally, I will try and have custom paintings of Sims/families for this very reason. So, at least there is some reminder of them left in the household.

Agreed that the sucess rate is too high, especially if all of the family are harmonious. I wonder if that is something which could be modded... it strikes me that it would be. It's just numbers after all?

In any case, you never get the option to plead with a death from old age, which is nice, I think. Imagine if the poor sim was pleading every day for his/her elderly parent's life? Talk about dragging out the inevitable. No, when a sim has had their time, they are gone, and no saving them, which is, I think, as it should be.

-Is death something that you'll usually exit without saving to avoid, or do you just alter your storyline to account for it?

I haven't had an accidental death in years, but I'd probably quit without saving.

-Are the loved ones of the deceased allowed to bargain with the Reaper, or does Grimmy stand apart from the mortal world, only there to usher the soul of the deceased into the netherworld?
The loved ones are allowed to bargain.

-Do most of your Sims make it to dying peacefully of old age, or does some tragedy usually cut their lives short first?
They usually die natural deaths as elders.

-Do tombstones and urns stay with the family, or are they relegated to a community cemetery?
Depends on the family. Regular families send their dead to cemeteries. Supernatural families, like the Goths, prefer to be surrounded by their ancestors and keep them on the home lot.
-Is resurrection likely, or does a dead Sim have no hope of returning to the mortal world?

Resurrection is likely for certain types of Sims - the ones who believe in and embrace the supernatural.

-What are your living Sims' cultural attitudes towards the ghosts and apparitions of those who've died?
Not everyone believes ghosts and the Grim Reaper and resurrection are scary things that aren't to be messed with, for most. There's a suspicion that resurrected Sims are not the same as Sims who never died, and it would be hard for previously dead Sims to reintegrate into society. I have a playable ghost,* a witch who refused to cross over. She's supposed to be bound to her lot, unless she's summoned, so she's not allowed to go to community lots and cause a mass panic. Her family and friends tolerate her, but the rest of the town would not.

*she isn't truly a ghost, with the ability to possess things or scare Sims, she's just a regular Sim who happens to be transparent, and she floats, but she's been dead for years in storyline.

Well, in my game, once a sim dies, a funeral is held at the sim's home. Once the funeral is over, their loved ones would move the urn/tombstone to a cemetery as their final resting place after mourning.

My sims don't get resurrected after that, because life goes on, you have to move on (plus it adds more drama).

-Is death something that you'll usually exit without saving to avoid, or do you just alter your storyline to account for it?
If it isn't old age, then yes I exit and I don't do "sim stories". I like to read them, but I don't write them myself. I just make a sim and well.. let them live their lives! I like to have a more.. realistic type of game rather than storyline. This also means maxis-match hair and no pookleted. I mean like, come on, guys! Not everyone looks like a model with picture-perfect hair.
-Are the loved ones of the deceased allowed to bargain with the Reaper, or does Grimmy stand apart from the mortal world, only there to usher the soul of the deceased into the netherworld?
I just let them die. Their time has come so no asking for that 'second chance'.
-Do most of your Sims make it to dying peacefully of old age, or does some tragedy usually cut their lives short first?
Old age usually takes them. I hate tragic deaths.
-Do tombstones and urns stay with the family, or are they relegated to a community cemetery?
They deserve to be in a cemetery. Nice and peaceful. This is their one chance to finally stay away from the family for a bit. Some alone time, ya know?
-Is resurrection likely, or does a dead Sim have no hope of returning to the mortal world?
It would be awkward to have your grandmother in the same life stage as you... Just sayin'...
-What are your living Sims' cultural attitudes towards the ghosts and apparitions of those who've died?
They don't get to see the ghosts because I don't want them to get their hopes too high. They're dead. You only get to see them again when you die. It's life.

Is death something that you'll usually exit without saving to avoid, or do you just alter your storyline to account for it?
I don’t play with much of a storyline in mind, preferring to take what the game throws at my Simmies.

Are the loved ones of the deceased allowed to bargain with the Reaper, or does Grimmy stand apart from the mortal world, only there to usher the soul of the deceased into the netherworld?
Rarely do they bargain. The last time I did was after Shannon Kimbrell was struck by lightning in the hot tub. His beloved, Shari, saved his life by beating Grimmy, but just a few minutes later she climbed into the hot tub while I wasn’t looking, and, well…. I figured Grimmy wasn’t going to leave without claiming somebody, so goodbye, Shari.

Do most of your Sims make it to dying peacefully of old age, or does some tragedy usually cut their lives short first?
They mostly die of old age. But the Hot Tub Incident was such wacky fun that I’m warming to the idea of making my Sims more accident prone.

Do tombstones and urns stay with the family, or are they relegated to a community cemetery?
Some family compounds have nice little burial grounds. The Goths, of course, but also a few other families that strike me as the kind who would like to keep their ancestors near. Don Lothario has carried Dina Caliente’s urn with him to three different houses; he has accepted that she will haunt him forever. Other Sims go to a community cemetery after their ghosts appear at home.

Is resurrection likely, or does a dead Sim have no hope of returning to the mortal world?
I’ve only resurrected one Sim so far in order to have a zombie. I’ll start resurrecting some Tricous soon. It's only taken me, what, 8 years to get around to it.

What are your living Sims' cultural attitudes towards the ghosts and apparitions of those who've died?
So long as they aren’t ghosts of drowned Sims who slosh water all over the place, the families with burial grounds don’t mind ghosts. There tend to be in those families several knowledge Sims who want to see ghosts on almost a daily basis.

Talk of funerals has reminded me that my sims have a different tradition for old age deaths. When a sim, especially one who lives alone, knows they are approaching death they hold a special party/gathering at their home for the purposes of handing over any sentimental items, pets and money. The party is over by 18:00 (I don't know if it's a bad idea to have the party controller still running when the lot is empty of residents, and in any case, I don't want the guests remaining on the lot and being saved with it) so the sim can greet Grimmy like an old friend. It's a nice, if emotional, way to let go of a sim.

If a Sim dies, they die. If I care a lot about them I might make the effort to get a Sim to bring them back or zombifying them. (I went through Strangetown making them all into zombies because it's a darn sight more interesting then actually playing their houses as they were meant to be played.)

-Is death something that you'll usually exit without saving to avoid, or do you just alter your storyline to account for it?
I always work around unexpected deaths. They so rarely happen for my Sims that when they do, I treat it as an exciting example of the games randomness and go with it. That doesn't mean I don't get really sad if it's one of my favourites, but I typically honour it.

-Are the loved ones of the deceased allowed to bargain with the Reaper, or does Grimmy stand apart from the mortal world, only there to usher the soul of the deceased into the netherworld?
I don't ever bargain. If they die, they die.

-Do most of your Sims make it to dying peacefully of old age, or does some tragedy usually cut their lives short first?
Some die of old age, some die because of my random dice events. I randomly kill a sim every 15-20 rotations. Every 10 rotations I roll a random tragedy - such as a family losing all their money, uncontrollable kitchen fire etc - they aren't all that extreme, but some can result in death. There's always a slim chance of death in childbirth, and also if my serial killer sims (0 nice points) go into aspiration failure they might kill someone off.
Basically, my Sims are constantly at the mercy of my dice and personal playbook!

-Do tombstones and urns stay with the family, or are they relegated to a community cemetery?
Move to a community cemetery. Can't being doing with ghosts flying about and disturbing everyone.

-Is resurrection likely, or does a dead Sim have no hope of returning to the mortal world?
Occasionally if a parent dies, their child makes it their personal quest to succeed in the paranormal to bring back a loved one. This sim can then hire out the telephone to others in the neighbourhood, but this doesn't happen too often because they usually aren't wealthy enough and don't want to zombify anyone.

-What are your living Sims' cultural attitudes towards the ghosts and apparitions of those who've died?
They can only see ghosts if visiting a cemetery at night, and if they have the opportunity to see someone they loved I treat it as a blessing.

-Is death something that you'll usually exit without saving to avoid, or do you just alter your storyline to account for it?
No exiting and saving to avoid deaths even in the case of a single pregnant vampire with a toddler who was electrocuted repairing the rod humble computer and then promptly died.


-Are the loved ones of the deceased allowed to bargain with the Reaper, or does Grimmy stand apart from the mortal world, only there to usher the soul of the deceased into the netherworld?
Pleading is allowed if I can get a sim there in time to plead and of course spot it and that it doesn't always happenespecially with big lots and large families

-Do most of your Sims make it to dying peacefully of old age, or does some tragedy usually cut their lives short first?
Some from old age and some from disasters. some of my sims hate unauthourised raids on their money trees so some sims have to walk through a field of landmines so to speak. No sims have fire alarms on lot until they roll a want for it. See my reply for the first question for your answer.



-Do tombstones and urns stay with the family, or are they relegated to a community cemetery?
If depends if its a gold aspiration stays on lot as do all the first ones to die to a particular cause. Sim pets usually go to their home lot for now. that could change with more deaths. excess deaths go to community cemeteries which are all empty at the moment. ordinary old age deaths stay until the last close family dies/ leaves lot ( child, sibling, spouse)

-Is resurrection likely, or does a dead Sim have no hope of returning to the mortal world?
It depends on the related sims for resurrection. Family sims resurrect for all bar old age, knowledge sims whenever they roll the wants. All other aspirations don't care they are too busy living and are often the ones dying
If it is a tragic loss and the sim I lost is one then their friends resurrect. Non old age deaths can wait quite a while before resurrection. Old age death is permanent.
However if the lot need a ghost of a particular cause of death they stay dead. Only brothers, sisters, children and parents are normally permitted to resurrect dead sims and not old age deaths. Normal means of rsurrection are genie lamp and bone phone. My witches don't have the skill yet.

-What are your living Sims' cultural attitudes towards the ghosts and apparitions of those who've died?
reverence if it is family. Meh for all others

What a great thread:

- I never never ever exit without saving when someone dies, no matter if it is an accident or if it is my most loved sim ever. I love the drama, I love that such things happen and that my favorite sim ever just died makes me love him/her even more. And I can always make it my mission to resurrect him/her later.

- It depends if I want the sim rescued or not but in about 80% I just let the sims die, because of the storyline drama (because people die and that's life). But if I really have other plans for a sim I try to get him/her rescued by making someone plead.

- I think about 50% of my sim deaths are from accidents or '' look-alike '' accidents, it means that I kill them and in my storyline someone murdered them, he he he. The other 50% die of old age.

- If I have a cemetary (which I rarely have) I send the gravestones there but otherwise I let them stay at the lot, place the grave in a nice spot and put some candles or flowers around the grave. I will always remember that/this lot as '' oh this is where Prue died '' so I just let the grave stay there and become a part of the house.



- Resurrection is possible but I rarely do it, if they are dead I usually don't see a reason for them coming back other than that they will just sit watching tv or go to work, they are in a better place imo

- My sims cultural attitudes? Uhm, eh. In my mind the sims know that there are ghosts (and other supernatural occult types) and all of that.

I think OP may have been referring there to computer games in general, rather than just to The Sims. You will no doubt remember all those early games where you always had three lives, and when you had been "killed" three times within a minute and a half it said:
GAME OVER!
PLAY AGAIN?
I wouldn't know if there are still games like that around, but I think there are still some relics of that casual attitude to death in the way some people play the Sims. "It's no big deal. It's only a game."
Well, I'm definitely not one of them! I could "kill" Space Invaders. But space invaders didn't even look alive, let alone human. Just moving and rather menacing shapes that kept coming nearer.
The first realistic looking people that I saw in a game, were in the early 1990's, when a friend got Wolfenstein. I was impressed by the graphics. But I couldn't play it. The German soldiers looked too much like real people. I could imagine them having a wife and children at home. Or a mother and father just wanting them to come home alive. I could no more stick a knife into one of them than I could do it in real life.
The difference with The Sims is that we know he has a wife and children because we've met them! We may even have seen him as a baby in his mother's arms, as a toddler crawling round the floor, or as the little boy that runs to give his daddy a hug when he gets home from work. I just can't bring myself to do them harm, far less kill them, even though I know it might help my story. They're just too much like real people with their strengths and their foibles, their hopes and their fears.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To go back to the original question, I've been playing The Sims 2 for two years now, and I've never even seen the Grim Reaper. And to tell the truth, I'm rather proud of that record. I have a mod to protect them from fire, which I think is by far the biggest case of premature death among Sims. The thought of watching someone I love burn to death absolutely horrifies me, and I just never ever want to see it. I also have a mod to stop ghosts haunting (so my Sims don't get scared to death). So only one of my Sims has ever seen a ghost. I'm not sure if the rest even believe that ghosts exist. Otherwise I can put the absence of death from my game so far down to a careful protective playstyle and a lot of good luck. The reason no one has died of old age is that I usually play with aging off.

So I don't really know how I'll react to the accidental death of a Sim until it happens. I know I'll be upset, possibly very upset. So I might quit without saving. Or I might just grit my teeth and accept it, just as I have to accept the deaths of real people. I probably shall let relatives plead, as it's still an in-game way to obvert the death. I don't have either of the EP's that allow resurrection, so I doubt if I'll go there. Until it happens, I really don't know what I'll do. Meantime I'll do my best to keep them safe and happy.

In the course of time I probably shall allow some of my oldest Sims to die of old age, but I'll want them in platinum, preferably with their LTWs achieved.

I used to play on a MUD but the leveling in MUDs is not fun, when you have to kill NPCs. The fun part is exploring and that MUD had very elaborate worlds. So I wanted to level up so I could explore the locked worlds, and there was a spell where you could "pick locks" so you could enter locked rooms. MUDs are text based, so when you had the right key you could type in the command UNLOCK DOOR or something, and the word *CLICK* would appear. Then you could get into that room. The leveling requirements were very demanding so I never got the PICK LOCK spell so I could not explore the locked room in that house. There was no key to that special room.There was a jester which you could kill and the loot was...hmm perhaps I'm revealing too much. It's probably best that I stop now.

@fruitsymphony I seem to remember text-based adventure games like that. I don't remember playing any, but I was aware of their existence. I believe they were popular at a time when most PCs had poor or non-existent graphics. And they provided a more intellectual alternative to "shoot-em-ups". However I haven't a clue what MUD stands for!?

Andrew I had to smile reading your post. I have never met someone as devoted to their sims and I think it is quite sweet I think if I had allowed myself to get so attached to my first sims I would be the same way, but I played in a very cavalier way right from the start, and I let the older generations go because I love to see the new generations come in, and I can't keep them all at once. I do have a hard time letting sims die knowing I could prevent it, though, and sometimes I'll triple-speed and look away or minimise the game and let it happen where I can't see. Because overall it works for the storyline or it's part of the challenge, or whatever. I don't like killing based games either.

I remember text based adventure games, too. We had a "Worst Witch" one on our school computer.

The worst game I ever played for heartstring tugging was an artificial life simulator called Creatures. You can buy it, with an emulator, on Gog.com. This game was incredible - you hatched tiny creatures called Norns from eggs, taught them, raised them, let them explore the world and breed etc, and their every reaction was controlled by completely simulated brain chemistry and DNA. That meant two things - that they could get sick, or old, and you'd be madly going through everything in the science and medical kits, injecting them with adrenaline, trying to find the right antibody, eventually realising it was useless and going for the painkiller so that they could have a peaceful end They differed, of course, because of their genes and their experience, so while one norn would surround themselves with others when their time came close another would sneak off to be alone. I could never bring myself to leave them alone to die and would sit "with" them, sometimes in tears. I was always heartbroken when I realised one had died and I hadn't realised. The other thing that could happen was that the genes could mutate, and you could end up with norns with some form of neurological disorder. Norns who thought food was inherently bad in such a strong way that you couldn't condition them the other way, or norns who are unable to focus on anything other than themselves. But that was rare and usually they were happy, sociable, funny little things. But man - the emotions of that game were hard hitting!

Yes that sounds more meaningful and ethical than mass killing NPC characters such as trolls and smurfs.
MUD stands for Multi User Dungeon. The owner of a MUD ran it on his own computer. The MUD would sometimes be down when there had been a power outing outage (??) where the owner lived. Because I think there were often storms in that area. So trees fell on the wires or something.
You would connect to their computer with Telnet.
Mudding is fun, would mud again if I could find some interesting MUD.

To be honest I very rarely let sims die - I get too attached My preferred gaming style is playing with aging off so I don't deal with any of the death stuff too often. Any time I have let a sim die I never bother with resurrecting or any of that junk, I prefer more realistic gameplay so when they're gone they're gone.