My Feedback: Death

[AryanaSky]

Hello!

I know that you all are constantly inundated with requests, ranging from brilliant to bizarre to bemusing. And I know there's a very low chance that anyone who actually has the power to make my feedback happen will even see my suggestions. I have no followers in the Sims Community, nor have I contributed much in the past, and therefore I have little influence to my name. But I think my requests are reasonable, and would benefit the game. Just in case the right person happens to come across this, and just in case that person agrees that even one of my suggestions is good, I decided to share my thoughts.

The theme today is Death.

1. Unless the player witnesses the death of a Sim in game, the deceased Sim will not leave behind a tombstone/urn. (There might be exceptions, but this is generally the rule as I know it.)

I find this to be very unfortunate. If one of your Sims dies while you are playing a different household, or if an NPC that is beloved by one of your Sims passes away, then your Sim cannot visit their tombstone/urn and mourn them. You have no control, because you cannot strengthen their connection to the physical world or release their spirit. You might be able to find the Sim's ghost and add them to your household, but that ruins the emotional storytelling surrounding death in a way that mere hauntings do not.

Possible Solutions:

• Create a "Manage the Dead" feature like in Sims 3. You can create a Mausoleum object that can be placed on lots, or you can add this feature to "Manage Households." Any time a Sim dies unwitnessed, they are added to the "Manage the Dead" menu as a Spirit. If the list of Spirits becomes too crowded, the game can start deleting unclaimed Spirits. But Spirits that were only ever NPCs should be deleted before Spirits that were marked as Played Sims in "Manage Households" at their time of death. In the "Manage the Dead" menu, you can choose to allow spirits to fade away entirely (manually delete them), have spirits become proper ghost NPCs (like Felix Psyded, one of the default NPCs in the game), or place their tombstone/urn in the world (either have it spawn on a chosen lot or place it in a chosen Played Sim's inventory). This is my favorite solution, but I think it might be overly complicated and/or expensive to implement.
• Alternatively, whenever a Played Sim dies unwitnessed, the game could pause and a dialogue box could pop up asking what should be done with the deceased Sim's tombstone/urn. The options can include giving the tombstone/urn to someone else in the deceased's household (if there is anyone else), spawning the tombstone/urn on the deceased's home lot (if they had one), or spawning the tombstone/urn on the currently active lot. This is probably the simplest solution, as the problem is handled straightaway and there's no fussing over Unplayed Sims.
• Create a "Request Remains" or similar option for the cell phone. Using this interaction, the Sim can request the tombstone/urn of any ghost they have a relationship with. It would appear in their inventory immediately, or with the next mail delivery. (Or maybe it could be hand-delivered by the Grim Reaper? That would be amusing!) You would have to make sure that any existing tombstones/urns tied to the ghost Sim despawn, break the ghost's connection to any existing tombstones/urns, or else only allow this option for ghost Sims that do not already have a tombstone/urn somewhere in the world. This seems like a pretty simple solution, but I can see that it might be...buggier than other solutions.

2. Mourning is not the only way to deal with the death of a loved one. 

Could we maybe get one or two more interactions for tombstones/urns? Something like "remember fondly" (same animation as viewing art, but with the deceased Sim's face appearing in a thought bubble) and/or "tell about recent events" (same animation as "talk to plant").

This is a pretty minor problem, all things said. But it also seems like a pretty easy fix, considering no new animations would be required and nothing more complicated than a small moodlet would need to result from the interaction.

While you're at it, if you're feeling ambitious...

The addition of sugar skull offerings was great, but maybe Sims could also offer items from their inventory (like the deceased's favorite meal/juice, a flower or flower arrangement, a child's drawing, a crafted candle from EcoLiving, or even just a pretty crystal). This could grant the offerer a small moodlet, increase the likelihood that the ghost will visit/haunt that lot sometime in the next 24 hours, increase or decrease the relationship between the offerer and the deceased, and/or any number of other things, small or big. It could even work like appeasing gnomes does in Seasons, resulting in all kinds of entertaining mayhem.

In its simplest forms, this interaction could just reuse the existing sugar skull offering animation and functionality. Or the interaction could be added as part of a game pack, in which case you'd have the resources to really run with this idea!

3. Wills and Inheritance

I do not remember exactly how it works in game, but currently when a Sim dies, the deceased's immediate family (or is it people who have a high relationship with the deceased?) can get a sum of money as "inheritance." This is better than nothing, but the process could use some improvements.

What if living Sims could create a will?

Such a feature might look like this: an adult Sim uses a "Create Will" interaction on their phone or on a computer. A menu pops up, allowing the Sim to choose a primary benefactor. The primary benefactor can be a specific Sim they know, a "distant relative" (no one in-game receives the inheritance), or "charity" (same as distant relative). When the Sim with the will dies, their will is executed and their personal inventory at the time of their death is transferred to the benefactor they chose. (If the inheritance was donated to charity, someone in the deceased's immediate family might get a card in the mail offering condolences and gratitude.)

When creating a will, the Sim can also choose up to 4 additional benefactors. When the will is executed, 10% of the deceased's household funds will be distributed evenly between each of the primary and additional benefactors. (For example, say John has died. 10% of his household funds happens to be $100. If he only has a primary benefactor, that person will receive all $100. If he has a primary benefactor and one additional benefactor, both will receive $50.)

If the deceased was the last person in their household, then the primary benefactor would also receive the deceased's household funds (after the 10% described above has been distributed) and the money from "selling" the deceased Sim's lot and household inventory. (They might also get the option to add any pets or minors to their household.) However, if the household still contains at least one person, these things would automatically remain with the household, regardless of who the deceased Sim has listed on their will.

If a Sim dies without a will, the inheritance will default to "distant relative" as the primary benefactor, and family members as additional benefactors. (If the deceased has more than four family members, the additional benefactors will be chosen based on highest relationship.)

A system such as this does a better job than the current system of taking the deceased Sim's net worth into account, tying up loose ends for storytelling, and allowing Sims/players more control over what happens when their Sims die.

If you have gotten this far, thank you for reading! What do you other Simmers think? Do you agree with my feedback? How do you think these suggestions could be improved? Do you have your own death-related feedback to provide?

[EmeraldLaura]

@AryanaSky great suggestions 👌 i am missing these things aswell since the start of TS4