Why Do You Want More Death in Your Game?

I don't even know if it's more death per say people want but also more consequences in general, especially set backs as these present more challenges and opportunities to write your story on the fly. In addition to death I'd like to see real consequences from chance cards or in game actions. For example, in the business career when you get to the point where your sim can p!at the stock market and make investments it would be awesome if a bad investment could potentially wipe you out. It would be cool if not completing homework could cause a reduction in grades that if not corrected makes progressing in your career field slower, at least to start until you prove yourself by completely your daily tasks at home every day for like an IG week, as well as some of the chance cards if you choose wrong. I have only ever seen a small performance loss on these that doesn't amount to much. A bad business investment doesn't really cost your sim in any significant way. I think it would be fun to feel like a bad move in any of the careers could have real impact on your sims. I think that's why Vampires & Parenthood were so popular. The choices you make have actual consequences in your game.

I want more deaths as it is the only real challenge in the game. They have made this game so easy to play now it gets boring quickly and knowing my sims could go up in flames when cooking, I start placing bets hahaha.

If the Sim is not at any risk of dying then why should I even look after them? No need to buy groceries, take them out to eat, or protect them from anything electrical without enough skills, no thrills, no chills. Might as well just turn it on and if I'm not into skill building and leveling up just for the gratification of that, then might as well walk away and forget about it, if they can't die, they don't need me at all.

ETA: Boy, things have changed in Sim Nation. The most popular thread used to be a thread asking (with each new release) what would be the new death, and color of the ghost...now it's what new hair did we get. lol

tinacolada00 the buglers added an element of uncertainty and a the repo man. I liked my Sims protecting their stuff and catching them before they escapes and the police got there. They cut them out, I've read, because it causes anxiety in some players--they felt violated. If you have the Vampire pack they can just about bite whomever they want from what I understand your Sims can't fight back and there isn't very much you can do to stop them--as the author of a video on the topic put it I think that's worse. In preceding versions of the game, I'm pretty much sure the vamps had to get permission to bite their victims. I guess there a garlic something or other you can get if you research vampire lore or something--it's been the biggest deterrent for me getting the vampires pack.

Vanpelt81--I know you can download ghosts from the gallery--can you create them in create-a-sim as well? I'm not sure.

"Bearflex;c-16378606" wrote:
tinacolada00 the buglers added an element of uncertainty and a the repo man. I liked my Sims protecting their stuff and catching them before they escapes and the police got there. They cut them out, I've read, because it causes anxiety in some players--they felt violated. If you have the Vampire pack they can just about bite whomever they want from what I understand your Sims can't fight back and there isn't very much you can do to stop them--as the author of a video on the topic put it I think that's worse. In preceding versions of the game, I'm pretty much sure the vamps had to get permission to bite their victims. I guess there a garlic something or other you can get if you research vampire lore or something--it's been the biggest deterrent for me getting the vampires pack.

I wouldn't mind the repo man back either. I don't get anxious or anything when he showed up but I wouldn't mind them waiting until say the next billing session that you didn't pay to do it. To me that would make more sense also time wise. And who said they cut them out because it caused anxiety. Did those working on the game say that or was it another source?
Also I would like burglers back but the burgler alarm should work from inside the house too.. or if you have one anywhere on the lot.

I think The Sims is one of those franchises that straddle the game-toy divide. Roughly, games have obstacles and limitations, while toys are vehicles of exploration and imagination.

Some people like The Sims to be like a puppet show or dolls where the lives of the sims are more carefully scripted. Wholeness others want the challenge and risk of getting a lot gauges filled before the death deadline. Prior iterations of the Sims has risk-reward balances where gaming challenges were juxtaposed with storytelling.

Now, Sims 4 has blunted many of the challenges of prior versions. Cheat codes were always available if a user wanted to use The Sims for storytelling while ignoring its more challenging gameplay. I think the requests for more death is actually just a manifestation of a desire for more challenges within the game-toy. I think this because cheat codes can turn the game-toy into a put play acting toy, while nothing within the game can turn the balance more towards the game side of the game-toy balance. Legacy challenges and other self-imposed challenges can add more weight to the game side of this balance, but they are just that self-imposed.

I enjoy Sims 4 for what it is, but it misses the shocking “oh %#*%” moments that challenge and dare I say inspire us to make changes to the stories we had already pre-written in our minds.

The Wants-N-Fears system of Sims2 made even a simple date or gathering to be challenging at times.

Personally, I hope that when Sims5 makes its appearance it remembers to provide for both the game-gamers and the toy-players, and remember that cheats make changing games into toys easy but there is nothing that can really change a toy into a game but a foundation of deep and challenging gameplay.

It’s a life simulation, life ends eventually.

For a lot of people it’s cruelly cut short and with sims it was always about giving us as much of a reminder as possible yet in a less real and more comical way. I want as many ways to die as possible because it always keeps me on my toes, it means storylines can get creative around how so and so dies, rather than it being “grandma passed away happily, Grim showed up, handed her a suitcase and a one way ticket to heaven”, it could be “Grandma was hit by a comet” or “grandma sharted too hard and popped something”, okay that one was pretty disgusting but that’s the point, EA has always been about funny deaths and plenty of them, now it seems they’ve downgraded and left out plenty of creative ways to kick the bucket. I miss the element of surprise with comets and satellites and how many other deaths we had, that’s the point here we had so many I’ve lost count! That’s in fact why we need MORE death rather than demand less, because ironically speaking, Sims was always about life and death and when death came it wasn’t always sad, it was hilarious and weird and annoying but it made sims a challenge, again a crucial element, it’s also about the challenge. For some it’s story, for some it’s making the game as difficult as possible, for some it’s just to see how many ways you can kill uncle terry, for the rest of us it’s what it is, means to an end.

I get the question of why do we want more, personally I’m annoyed by it and I always wish my sims had more time but then you value the time you do have and want to put time and effort into them so you have that memory and moving onto the next household isn’t just a lame switch. Of course you can just turn off aging and never have them die of old age, but everyone’s game is different. You don’t have to understand of like it but everyone’s game is their own. Pretty sure that’s in EA’s branding of sims but you know

"RnM92;c-16369077" wrote:
I like having death in the Sims, especially if it's a death that's not random and only happens as a result of your actions, such as not feeling your sim, not taking care of your sim when sick, allowing your sim to walk into the fire, getting your sim to fix the TV when they have low mechanical skill etc. It makes the game more challenging and keeps you engaged. I don't like how a lot of the deaths we do get in the Sims 4 are random (ie emotional deaths), it just takes away control from the player and I don't like how silly and childish some of them are. And the general lack of death just makes it dull and less engaging, because there's less to motivate you to do certain things or look after your sims. Even with pets, I don't like how nothing bad happens if you don't look after them. Even if they get sick nothing happens and therefore there's little incentive to take them to the vet. In the Sims 1, your pet could actually die if you didn't feed them, so that meant you made sure you kept an eye on them.

Also, and nobody can deny this happens, but many people enjoy killing their sims for the hell of it. I mean who DIDN'T remove the pool ladder on purpose while all of your sims were in there in the Sims 1, or make a fire death trap house and take the door away? Loads of people did it, it was almost a rite of passage for playing that game when I was a kid. Of course nobody would think to do this in real life or it made them an evil person, it was just a bit of fun and it was people experimenting, trying to see what they extent they could get the game to do crazy things.

I didn't do either of those things...what I DID do was let one of two Sims die when two of them walked into my improvisation of a community bathroom stall. A big part of that was I didn't know about the move objects on cheat (or I could have moved one of them out of the stall so that the other one could exit on their own).

I don't generally like killing my sims off, and I often disable aging when I have the chance. One reason I disable aging is so my Sims have a chance to get established in a career before getting married and having Simbabies. Pre-made families, on the other hand....they show up in EVERY new save I create, so if I am just tired of playing with those Sims, I don't mind so much if they die off, so that I can move new households from the gallery or ones I have created in. Besides, in some of my saves they have already died of old age while I was playing another household.

"Cynna;c-16371198" wrote:
OP, I don't want death exactly. The emotional deaths in TS4 are dead stupid, to be honest. However, what I want are genuine consequences. Sometimes, as in life, that leads to death.

Right now, death is the only genuine consequence for anything in TS4. To my knowledge, Sims can't lose their job or their fortunes. Heck, unless something has changed (since I gave up using TS4's idea of game play and began using it as a photo studio), Sims can't even be demoted. Failing a chance card results in nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

Yes, it's odd to me that it's easier to kill a sim than for them to lose their job. I have to really work at it for them to lose their job or drop a grade. More consequences and a bit of suspense (the odd chance of losing a job, grade, skill point, money) would really add a lot of interest and spice to the game. There are a few ways to do this but they are really out of the normal flow (how many people have a wishing well at their home, for example?) I find it odd that a child can skip school for a couple of sim weeks straight and only drop from an "A" to a "B".