I have extreme fear for the Grim Reaper

OP, I know exactly where you are coming from. I actually wasn't too fond of Grimmy either back in the TS1 days. Skeletons in general always freaked me out a bit, especially as a child. I even chose not to install Livin' Large when re-installing my game because I just didn't want to have him there. (I also remember trying to install a mod that replaced him with an "angel of death", but being 12 years old and having no understanding of how Sims mods worked it didn't go so well.)

When TS2 came along and Grimmy became base game content, I had a modded painting that I used to stop Sims from aging to elder so I could experience the rest of the aging cycle without him appearing. But then I decided I wanted to start a Prosperity challenge. Prosperity is a generational challenge, kind of a rotational version of a Legacy, so if I wanted to do it properly I had to let Sims die of old age. I also decided to blog my challenge, which meant that I had to document the deaths somehow; I couldn't just scroll to another part of the screen until it was over. I ended up having to gradually desensitize myself. The first time an elder died of old age, I zoomed out as far as the camera would allow so he only appeared as a gray dot. Each time afterward, I tried to move the camera a little bit closer, until I didn't need to move the camera away at all. (The fact that you could no longer see the skull inside the hood helped a great deal too. The less skeletal, the better.)

Granted, in TS2 Grimmy's animations were more silly at times, especially for old age deaths and pet deaths. The TS4 "reaping" animation still startles me a bit, and I still tend to hit fast forward through it once I've gotten the necessary screenshots to document the death. I would advise against intentionally toggling many deaths in a row to "force" yourself to get over the fear. Don't make you're entire gameplay experience about Sim deaths. Play the game normally, maybe creating some households with elders as TS4 provides plenty of warning when a Sim is going to die from old age. When it happens, zoom out. Scroll farther away and watch from the public space. (TS2 didn't provide this option.) Hit fast forward if you need to. Once it's over, go back to playing your game. Eventually it will get easier. You may never love the character, but you'll be able to play the game without panicking. Alternatively, you could also watch YouTube clips of Sims dying in other people's games to desensitize yourself. Maybe let the audio play from another tab at first, then watch the video.

It also may help to learn about the concept/character of the Grim Reaper outside of The Sims; it may be less frightening if you can see the cultural history behind the character. (This helped me out a great deal as well.)

Of course, you may still play doing everything possible to keep your Sims alive and that's ok. And you may choose to play with aging off so your Sims don't die from old age, which is fine too. If it wasn't, that option wouldn't be in the game. While I still do let my Sims die of old age, I also don't intentionally lock them in a pool or set them on fire. And if they go into the "Mortified" or "Hysterical" emotions, you can bet I do everything in my power to bring that down. But I don't have anxiety any time I'm on a lot with an elder on it anymore.

I can't imagine being afraid of cartoon characters in a game. I guess it is because I am older and my life has not been as easy as others. Fear is a tool to sharpen your senses when needed. Fear has kept me alive in some pretty dangerous situations because I realized that cowering would result in death. Trust me, it is not easy to charge a person who has a gun pointed at you.

Fear should keep us from being victims not victims of fear.

Grimmy is pretty tame in The Sims 4 not like his Sims 1 & 2 counterpart :D

I wouldn't call it weird. It's more in line with a phobia. Phobias make no sense as it is. While we can identify that our own fear makes no sense or causes us no harm, our brains have a harder time getting the picture. I really like tthe suggestion of watching funny videos of him. Although its not as simple as disabling death as grim likes to wander around town sometimes. Hes most often at the gym in my game

@Elin, did you know you you can make friends with Grim? You don't have to experience a Sim death to get to know him/her. S/he sometimes hangs around town, in off-duty mode. I've seen Grim fishing, or having a drink at the bar. Very approachable and quite friendly!

One of my Sims in one of my games made friends with Grim and they became BFFs. She and Grim often chatted often, either in person or via PC or phone. Heh I was tempted to see if I could start a romance, but that wasn't the direction I wanted this particular Sim's life to go in. Now that I think about it, though...

As @zeldagirl180 suggests, this sounds like a phobia. Perhaps, if you can steel your nerves long enough, you could have a Sim approach off-duty Grim and strike up a conversation. Tougher to do than it sounds, I know, if the very thought of Grim sets your teeth on edge.

It's that sound effects that come with the Grim Reaper that freaks me out.

Death.toggle false is a totally safe cheat.
I know people in rl with far worse fears. Tons of ppl ik in rl are afraid of things far stupider.
But to get over your fear (which is important) I would force yourself to watch the grim reaper reap souls on sims 4.
He loves pink puffy cake & strawberry ice cream which is true. He is quite cute and nice actually, not scary at all.

btw, THIS is what scared me the most in any the sims game ever (whole the sims 2 psp paranormal stuff being a close second). :O
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4djJULQHnR0

this bloodcurdling sound-effect that would play and scare me whenever something bad would happen. it even played whenever a racoon would step on my property - which could happen at any time, without any signs. at least you had control over your sims, so they wouldn't die (they didn't age anyway) or miss their work, but you couldn't do anything about those racoons i believe. except turning the volume down for about 90% of the gameplay. :s
this intense music was used very well and it would usually scare you when you least expected it, fans of horror movies would love it haha. :D
i'm not scared of the music itself anymore, but it would still make me uncomfortable hearing this unexpectedly during gameplay. unfortunately i don't have the sims 1 installed. :/

Everyone has a fear of something :) I typically play with no deaths just turn off aging, no reaper ever. You could also desensitize yourself by exposing yourself slowly to the reaper. Like look up funny pic of the sims reaper, lots out there. Or Like have a death occur in a household and have another house sim befriend him. He's like other sims when he's not working :D

Since you are asking I'm guessing you want more control of this fear I say just add more dimension to the reaper less creepy stuff and see if your fear decreases. I hate bugs always have when I was young I would lose it if there were any near me I still want to now and I still acknowledge the feeling I just trained myself to freak out less and it's helped, good luck

"ceejay402;13861538" wrote:
Everyone has a fear of something :) I typically play with no deaths just turn off aging, no reaper ever. You could also desensitize yourself by exposing yourself slowly to the reaper. Like look up funny pic of the sims reaper, lots out there. Or Like have a death occur in a household and have another house sim befriend him. He's like other sims when he's not working :D

Since you are asking I'm guessing you want more control of this fear I say just add more dimension to the reaper less creepy stuff and see if your fear decreases. I hate bugs always have when I was young I would lose it if there were any near me I still want to now and I still acknowledge the feeling I just trained myself to freak out less and it's helped, good luck

Too bad I lost an amazing rare one on sims 3.
Can't retrieve it because I refuse to touch my old PC; it's totally broke!
It was the grim reaper staying at my hotel and eating pink ice cream