Over the past 17 years, The Sims franchise has dominated the field of simulation games. It is one of the best-selling video game series and has sold almost 200 million copies worldwide. Why is it so successful? It’s most likely because of all the cool things you can do within the game.
As a virtual game of Life, the Sims allows you to build a customized family, move into a home, and basically live life. Your Sims can grow old, get married, have kids, and die. However, besides these typical life experiences, creative players have found multiple different ways to live their simulated life.
For example, people have discovered different money-making schemes and multiple hilariously morbid ways to kill off their Sims. These unique alternative lifestyles have created a game within the game and allowed people to further enjoy the world of The Sims
This list includes things you never thought you could do in the Sims, and provides a whole new way to play the series. It'll make you dust off your copy of the game and, once again, spend endless hours in front of the computer screen.
So, get ready to change your Sims gaming experience, because here are the 15 Things You Had No Idea You Could Do In The Sims.
15. Conjure the Social Bunny
When we were lonely little kids, we made up imaginary friends. Well, the Sims do the same.
In Sims 2, your Sim may conjure a pink, yellow, or blue bunny known as “The Social Bunny.” This bunny appears when your Sim’s social needs drop into the red zone. The Sim who conjured The Social Bunny is the only one that can see it, just like any imaginary friend, and if you switch to another Sim in your household, the bunny will vanish from your screen.
The Social Bunny’s presence will help your Sim regain his or her social happiness and you can even interact with it through conventions such as kissing, chatting, or fighting. However, other Sims will react as though the lonely Sim is crazy when he or she interacts with the bunny. As soon as the lonely Sim’s social needs reach the halfway mark, the bunny will leave and the Sim’s life can go on.
In the first Sims game, lonely Sims were not visited by the colorful bunny, but instead was visited by “The Tragic Clown.” The clown, though, was never as successful in cheering up Sims as the bunny.
14. Control the Grim Reaper
The Grim Reaper controls death within The Sims universe. However, did you know that you can actually control the Grim Reaper?
Step one is to summon the black-cloaked Reaper. You will need to either kill off a Sim or use a cheat by pressing "CTRL + SHIFT + C" and typing "testingcheatsenabled true." After enabling the cheat, hold shift and click the mailbox, then hit "Force NPC." This cheat, however, may also result in a Sim’s death.
When the Grim Reaper arrives, hold Shift and click on him. Select “Add to active family” and you should be good to go. However, if that is not an option, you will have to do it the hard way: befriend and then marry him. Try using a Sim that has an evil trait, as the Grim Reaper responds more favorably to these Sims.
When he’s a part of your family, you will be able to control Death himself.
13. Find the Secret Sylvan Glade and Forgotten Grotto
Sims 4 includes two secret neighborhoods. The first is the Sylvan Glade, which is a beautiful, floral neighborhood with a dark secret. To get there, head to Crick Cabana in Willow Creek where you will find a mystical tree.
Keep viewing the tree until there is an option to water it. Then, keep watering until you receive the option to talk. After multiple conversations with the tree, you should be able to choose the following sequence: "Follow the Sound," "Follow Downstream," and "Enter the Mist."
This will send you to Sylvan Glade, where you can learn it’s secrets. In the upper right bushes, you will find red glowing eyes. Get too close and the eyes will disappear with a creepy laugh.
The second hidden area is the Forgotten Grotto. Use a Sim with Level 10 Handiness skills to travel to Oasis Springs. Go behind the park, and through a canyon near a bathroom stall. Find the boarded mine entrance here and use the handy Sim to break away the boards. Then, interact with the entrance and click “Take the Wide Path,” “Climb the Ladder,” and then “Step onto the Ledge.” Here is the Forgotten Grotto, where you can fish for the rare Batfish.
12. Death by Extreme Emotion
They say that laughter is the best medicine. However, this isn’t true in the world of the Sims. Too much laughter, and your Sims could end their life early. This happens if a Sim reaches +15 Playful and Happy Moodlets combined. He or she will reach hysteria, a state in which the Sim will continue to laugh until they suffocate and keel over.
Not only can extreme laughter kill the Sims, but it can also embarrass them to death. If a Sim is rejected or wets themselves in public, they will enter a mortified state that can lead to death. The longer they are in this high state of embarrassment, the more likely they will die from it.
Anger is also an emotion that can kill Sims. Extreme anger can occur from events such as terrible interactions with other Sims or catching their significant other in the act of cheating. A Sim that becomes enraged for too long can die of a Cardiac Explosion.
11. Cheat Death with the Death Flower
The Death Flower can be used to help your favorite Sims cheat death. You can obtain the flower in one of two ways – either by finding it on a bush or fishing for it.
Sometimes your Sim can find the Death Flower while fishing; however, this is extremely rare. The more common way of obtaining the plant is through cultivating the seeds from a Death Flower Bush. This rare flower bush can sometimes be found near graveyards.
Once you find the seed, you will need a Sim with Level 7 gardening skills to harvest the seed and make it grow. The seed will blossom into a Death Flower, marked by a skull and prickly black and purple leaves.
As soon as the Sim picks the flower, the plant will die. You have a very small chance of reviving the plant with a Sim that has the Green Thumb Trait. However, most Sims will only get one flower off the plant.
Keep the flower on your favorite Sim and, when Death comes knocking on your door, the Sim will automatically trade the flower for his or her life.
10. Import Your Music into the Game
If you’ve ever gotten tired of the music that plays during The Sims, this one is for you. You can now import your own music into The Sims.
First, pick out what songs you’d like to import in the game and make sure they are in the .mp3 format. Then, copy and paste the files into the Sims Custom Music folder, which can be accessed through this folder path: My document, Electronic Arts, The Sims X, Custom Music (The X represents whatever numerical version of the Sims you are playing).
Your music is now incorporated into your Sims game. To hear it, send a Sim to a radio, click it and set the music to “Custom Music.” You are now the DJ to your own game.
9. Scoot into a Bed Against a Wall
One of the most annoying things about The Sims was that you couldn’t fit two people in the same bed if it was pushed against a wall. The Sims just refused to scoot over. However, The Sims 4 revolutionized the game by giving Sims the ability to ignore the wall.
Many people didn’t notice the addition simply because we have all just accepted the annoyance as a fact of life. We simply stopped putting beds next to walls. However, it’s as simple as clicking the Sim to where you want him or her to sleep. Then, watch the Sim scoot to the side against the wall.
Now couples can sleep together in a bed against the wall. However, Sims sleeping in this configuration can't do certain activities in bed such as "trying for a baby" for some reason. You'll have to push the bed away from the wall to do this.
8. Abuse Medicine
In The Sims 4: Get to Work, doctors can help save sick Sims. This role, however, came with a strict adherence to medical rules. If a Sim takes medication without being ill, you will receive a message that says “this is your brain on drugs.”
This Easter egg refers to the anti-narcotics campaign launched in 1987 by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. In this PSA, a man holds up an egg and says “this is your brain.” He then points to a frying pan and says “this is drugs.” The man cracks the egg and fries it stating “this is your brain on drugs.”
Maxis just wants to ensure that its viewers don’t abuse drugs, in the game, or out of it.
7. Buy Any House for Free
Sometimes Sims can be a lot like Monopoly. The game can be never-ending and it may take forever to buy a house. Well, now you can skip the wait and move straight into your dream home. All you have to do is cheat the system.
When you’re in the neighborhood or world map view, open the command console by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + C. Then, type in “freeRealEstate.” Any house on your map will now be free. Simply click and move-in.
You can now save your money for other necessary things, such as The Digital Tattoo Applicator, Wall-Installed Digital Fishiness Display, or a Music Box with Gnome. Then again, you could just use the other cheats such as “motherlode” or “rosebud” and never need to work for money ever again. If only life were as simple.
6. Create a Haunted House by Resurrecting the Dead
In The Sims, you can make a haunted house to spook anyone that moves in. To do so, you will need to select a house, move in a family, and kill them off. Then, remove any evidence of the death.
Place urns in a bedroom and, if there are tombstones, do not put water in front of them (because ghosts can’t cross water). After you set up the house, move in a poor, unfortunate family and wait for the ghosts to appear during the night. The ghosts may do odd things associated with how they died. For example, a ghost that starved to death may keep going to the fridge.
To stop the hauntings, take the urn or tombstone to the local cemetery, which is much easier than an exorcism.
In Sims 3 you can even control your Sim’s ghosts. After you have killed a Sim, use another Sim with the Science Lab opportunity to bring the dead Sim’s urn or tombstone to the lab. At the lab, the dead Sim can be resurrected.
When the ghost appears, feed it Ambrosia so that it will become a permanent member of your active household. You can then play as the ghost and even try for a ghost baby.