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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#1 Old 14th Aug 2021 at 10:48 PM
Default Last Rites
Sims die, the Grim Reaper shows up, and a headstone or urn appears to mark the location of that deceased Sim's earthly remains... but there's not a game mechanic for funerals, wakes, memorials, or anything of the sort. SO, how do you handle the death of your Sims from the standpoint of those still living? What kind of services are held for the dead in your game?

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Instructor
#2 Old 14th Aug 2021 at 11:40 PM
Absolutely nothing. I ship the grave off to the graveyard never to be seen again. Sounds a tad harsh now that I'm thinking about it. But I've just never thought about it.

To be fair I never remember to throw birthday parties either so the only sort of important life event celebration I hold in my game is weddings - which typically consist of just going to the church I made that contains a restaurant within it so they get married then eat that that 8-seater table and that's that.
Mad Poster
#3 Old 14th Aug 2021 at 11:50 PM
I don't generally hold a funeral, but the household (and anyone in another household especially affected by the death - a grandchild with the fear of a relative dying, for example) runs entirely on free will for a full rotation; more if the storyline calls for it.

To be completely honest, there's generally somebody in the family I can designate to step up and make sure the absolute essentials are taken care of - the dog gets fed, the baby gets changed, that kind of thing. But otherwise, there's lots of wandering around doing random things, going into a room only for the action to drop from the queue, random crying fits, musical beds all night, whatever.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Mad Poster
#4 Old 14th Aug 2021 at 11:51 PM Last edited by FranH : 15th Aug 2021 at 6:04 PM.
Well, the death of anyone in Tinsel Town is cause for a funeral. (unless they disappear in highly questionable circumstances..)and I've held at least 2 so far, and am planning for a few more in the next week or so.
I will invite all the family possible to the house of the soon-to be-deceased for one last party. While Grim is there, everyone can weep and moan, carry on and cry to the heavens while watching Grim's last stop.
That's before the funeral, which will be held the next day at the town church. I'll send the remains to it, to be planted in the graveyard with other relatives and neighbors, while the living will come to the church to hear eulogies from various assorted personages. (All adult relatives are required to attend. Nobody goes to work that day!)
This kind of event demands formal wear, and everyone attending is required to sit and listen to the eulogies, which don't take more than an hour. There is usually a banquet table in the alcove of the church so everyone can have a bite to eat and talk to one another afterward.
After that, everyone goes home to either mourn or celebrate. The inheritances are usually dispersed before the funeral, so nobody can argue about what they got as versus what someone else got.
The lectern by Cathair is most useful for this event. It will inspire sitting sims to weep during speeches: https://modthesims.info/d/237727/be...gy-lectern.html
I rarely have any misbehavior of any kind during the event, and anyone acting out will be forcibly removed.

I know this sounds like a lot of work, but you just don't throw the urn out to the street for the garbage truck to come by for it, do you? Then have some dignified ceremonies. Free food and drink are always a good reason to show up!

(by the way-in real life, I knew a person who did attend funerals of people she never even knew for the chance to perhaps get free food..not a joke..)

Receptacle Refugee & Resident Polar Bear
"Get out of my way, young'un, I'm a ninja!"
Grave Matters: The funeral podium is available here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/e6tj...albits.zip/file
My other downloads are here: https://app.mediafire.com/myfiles
Mad Poster
#5 Old 14th Aug 2021 at 11:59 PM
I do not hold funerals, but the family will make a trip to the graveyard to leave the gravestone there, and they return on occasion to put down some flowers and remember their loved one. The graveyard is an owned OFB lot, so in practice the urn gets sent to the gravekeeper who brings it there, and after Sims have visited and put flowers (which obviously vanish once they leave) he goes and puts down the same flowers, so that they are there properly.

Creations can be found on my on tumblr.
Theorist
#6 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 12:07 AM
First and foremost, I pause the game and divvy up the life insurance money. Once the accounting is out of the way I send their grave to a community lot, go into buy mode and add some flowers to their grave. And then I go back to the family to play and see what happens.

I send sims to the grave to mourn when their wants give me an excuse to or they were that close it would be weird if they didn't. An example of using wants, if someone with a recent death wants to throw a party I assume they want to see their family and gather people for a family reunion. Or it might be the impetus for big, life changing decisions for some. So no formal last rites/funeral type of stuff happens in my game but when Sims die it matters. A death shapes the entire towns rotation.
Forum Resident
#7 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 6:20 AM
I just send the gravestone to the graveyard. Sometimes the family will go and visit the graveyard afterward to go mourn. Usually it would only be immediate family members who go. Sims who were particularly close to a sim who has passed will visit their grave at least once every rotation. For example, one of my sims Sophie would visit her adoptive mom Adelaide's grave each rotation because Adelaide saved her from being an orphan on the streets.

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-Ye Olde Royal Kingdom Challenge on The Sims 3
Mad Poster
#8 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 7:06 AM
For my game each Sim must 'remember' their ancestor once a Sim week to prevent 'angry' ancestors. How I implement this in-game is that if a Sim fails to mourn a grave of their ancestors I then only fulfill their fears for 3 Sim days. This has lead to some interesting results, and IMO offers a way to explore the want/fear system better.

Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

Mad Poster
#9 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 7:39 AM
Default Last rites?
None of my Sims has died yet!

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Mad Poster
#10 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 9:21 AM
The game has a number of amazing surprises

Sims from the hood will turn up at the house of the deceased sim. I assume they are coming to comfort the bereaved And make the best of it by having dinner - perhaps a family member will cook, or take-aways may be ordered.

It has even happened that the former lover of a newly widowed sim turned up all by herself - after the first visitors have left And plans for a second wedding can be made.

The above scenario may, of course, be prevented if the first sim is struck by lightning when gazing through the telescope and her husband steps over her grave to stargaze too and gets abducted by aliens - there is nobody at home to welcome the visitors now In that case the widowed sim will invite friends and family to a restaurant for a meal once the ghost has spawned and they will visit the graveyard after that.

For sims who are at home when Grimmie turns up, off to the graveyard with a sim outing as soon as the ghost spawns as well - the restaurant is not necessary because they have already dined together; and the graveyard offers some things to entertain them, as well as coffee and cake. A knowledge sim my be lucky to see a ghost as well, of course
Scholar
#11 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 10:45 AM
In most of my hoods, there are no real services. One member of the household is designated the executor of the will and has to drop everything else to distribute the inheritances, but that's about it. In Riverblossom Hills, I initially had a PlantSim arrive just before an expected death or directly after an unexpected one, and remain with the family until the ghost spawned, at which time the urn could be sent to the graveyard. It was a serious offence to 'disrupt the funeral rites' by kicking the bin or stealing the newspaper while the PlantSim was present. But one of the Viejo women stubbornly refused to spawn, even though the lot had all sorts of howling and haunting noises going on all night. At that point, I designated the PlantSim who had attended the most deaths as a Shaman, gave him his own cottage, and had him simply collect the urn and return straight home with it (he had to have an apprentice as well, of course, so that the lot was always occupied). He would then curate all graves on his own high-hedged lot until the ghost spawned, then sent the urn to the graveyard, where the family would go to visit it on their next rotation.
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retired moderator
#13 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 4:01 PM
Why have two people disagreed with AndrewGloria? It's a statement of fact!
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Lab Assistant
#14 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 4:55 PM
Didn't think I had any rituals or routines, but usually recipients of inheritance will call the household or the relative they know the best. If it is a close friend or the families interact a lot the family is invited over to re-establish the bonds. Mostly due to practical reasons, but still.
Forum Resident
#15 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 6:28 PM Last edited by CrystalFlame360 : 15th Aug 2021 at 6:30 PM. Reason: Typo!
To be honest, I never even considered funerals, but now that it's been brought up, I may start doing that. The closest thing I do to that already though, is when elders die of old age, they have what I call a "Farewell Party," where they invite family, close friends, and 'plus ones,' who are usually a family member or friend's significant other and relatives. It's a massive way to say goodbye.

Funerals being implemented into my game will give the chance for sims who have had family and friends leave too soon the chance to say farewell. Then, once I finally stop procrastinating on getting the graveyard built, they can mourn them properly.

When a game is predictable, it's boring.
That goes for any medium that isn't life.
That's why The Sims 2 is my favourite sims game.
It has elements of unpredictability and everything feels more involved.
The Sims 4 is another story altogether...
Theorist
#16 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 6:44 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simsample
Why have two people disagreed with AndrewGloria? It's a statement of fact!
Because I consider his statement vacuous in context of this particular discussion. (I sound harsh, but that's not my intention, Andrew!)

As an example, I would equally as much hit the controversial little button to a person's post where they reply with "I don't mod my game, thankyouverymuch" to a modding question, "How do I change an object's environment score."
Mad Poster
#17 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 7:12 PM
Well, when I posted that none of my Sims had died, I thought I was telling the truth. But I've got 2 Disagrees, so clearly some people here know better what's going on in my game than I do. It seems that some of my Sims have died and I haven't noticed. That was very unobservant of me and I do apologise. Please let me know which of my Sims has died, so I can arrange decent burial for them. It's not just a matter of aesthetics; having dead bodies lying around is very bad for the public health, to say nothing of morale. Thank you for pointing out my error. I'll try to pay more attention in future.

If and when one of my Sims dies, I will ensure that they are properly and respectfully buried. I will place flowers on their graves. And, even if nobody else does, I will most certainly mourn for them. My love for my Sims won't die just because they die. It will though probably die when I do.

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Link Ninja
#18 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 7:17 PM
I don't usually do anything play-wise. Pretty much exactly what CASnarl mentioned in the first response comment BUT it does leave food for thought so thanks for that Zarathustra! I do have graveyards but the only time there are visits are from knowledge sims seeking supernatural encounters, or me 'staging' a funeral in pics, or when I go into build mode to properly place a grave with some flowers and a 'fresh' coat of dirt terrain to let myself know who last kicked the bucker and cover the previous dirt pile with grass. However now that I am thinking about it would create more depth if I took the mourning family to the site and then every time someone visited I could add a flower deco on the grave of their ancestor. I have a few family mausoleums as well, for the affluent ones.

Uh oh! My social bar is low - that's why I posted today.

Theorist
#19 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 7:33 PM
I did give my reasoning of giving you a disagree; it had nothing to do with "me knowing your own game better than you." It was simply because nothing could be drawn from your reply (and forums not having more buttons, for example, irrelevant in light grey color). However, what you wrote here:
Quote:
If and when one of my Sims dies, I will ensure that they are properly and respectfully buried. I will place flowers on their graves. And, even if nobody else does, I will most certainly mourn for them. My love for my Sims won't die just because they die. It will though probably die when I do.
Now, that does contribute to the discussion.
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retired moderator
#20 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 7:34 PM
Quote: Originally posted by topp
As an example, I would equally as much hit the controversial little button to a person's post where they reply with "I don't mod my game, thankyouverymuch" to a modding question, "How do I change an object's environment score."

Topp, I am shocked!

(Not really, I just thought it was funny that someone disagreed with that particular post. )
Link Ninja
#21 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 8:48 PM
I get it, staying on topic is important to the thread and adding something like 'I don't play premades' is not adding to anything on a thread specifically about premades. I've just learned not to react to responses that don't add to the conversation and only rarely disagree when someone is giving false or misleading info. In fact, my reaction to receiving a disagree is to agree! Anyhow...uh DEATH! FUNERALS! I'm on topic still here's a pic of a funeral. The sim had definitely, recently had kicked off the simortal coil, though no body was in the 'coffin' but the canvas was something I had one of her family members paint for her memorial



Edit: Speaking of death, I made some death poses awhile back if you are ever interested in posing bodies for an open casket funeral sims pic/story, let me know!

Uh oh! My social bar is low - that's why I posted today.

Mad Poster
#22 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 10:29 PM
Speaking of momento mori items (pictures of the deceased) Chris Hatch made a mod for when a pixel dies, they're the ones represented in the picture-it's perfect for churches. I've had a couple of them painted by grieving relatives-like Alec Shaw did of his beloved daughter, Faye, when she died. It seemed to cheer him up and I could swear he got happier as time went on. The portrait still sits on their wall, as a reminder to them of her.

Receptacle Refugee & Resident Polar Bear
"Get out of my way, young'un, I'm a ninja!"
Grave Matters: The funeral podium is available here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/e6tj...albits.zip/file
My other downloads are here: https://app.mediafire.com/myfiles
Scholar
#23 Old 16th Aug 2021 at 3:23 AM
Quote: Originally posted by topp
I did give my reasoning of giving you a disagree; it had nothing to do with "me knowing your own game better than you."

I think you and AndrewGloria probably 'crossed in the post' by a scant minute or two.
Field Researcher
#24 Old 16th Aug 2021 at 6:46 AM
Although I'm in the process of restarting my hood, I did, in the previous iteration, have to hold a funeral for Polly Caliente (I was/still plan to play through the premades), Nestor's wife. When she died, I invited the pastor over, since he's the one who "owns" the cemetery (OFB lot, is actually the owner), and put the urn in his inventory, then had Nestor say goodbye to him. Since I had to set things up for picture-taking, I built a small chapel in the backyard, decorated it like the local church, added a closed casket, and invited over Nestor and Polly's friends (I made sure they were all set to wear formal over and black/dark gray clothing, first). I posed them, such as Pastor Bronson giving the eulogy, Jocasta Bachelor crying and being comforted by Simis, and Nestor laying a bouquet of flowers on Polly's casket.

Afterwards, they went into the house and visited for a bit before I had Nestor say goodbyes to everyone. As for the grave itself, I played the pastor's family and had him go to the cemetery, where I then took the urn from his inventory, found a suitable plot of land, and placed the headstone there.

During that rotation, Nestor did mourn, and he did spend time worrying over their infant son, something I found to be a nice game touch, since he was then a single father and widower.
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retired moderator
#25 Old 16th Aug 2021 at 12:33 PM
I like the sound of the Cathair lectern that Fran linked above. I've never really thought about doing anything like a memorial service for dead sims, but I do have a graveyard (which is getting quite full) and a small chapel, which is across the road from the graveyard. The graveyard has a tiny barbecue area and a public toilet, and the chapel has Mustluvcatz' plumbob of praise. I seldom use either lot though (except to send dead sims to the graveyard and some engaged sims to get married at the chapel). I think I might try out the cathair lectern, and build a new graveyard with a memorial building, where the sims could have a wake (or whatever the correct term is). I'm an apatheist, so this is showing in my gameplay! But I thought the idea of having some kind of sim religion was interesting, hence the plumbob of praise, although it's not been used much.
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