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Do 41% of players kill their Sims on purpose? Yougov seem to think so!

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Yougov are a very well known pollster who conduct a lot of surveys ranging from politics to business. I like to keep up with the polls myself during these turbulent times but imagine my surprise at seeing Yougov have had a poll up for Simmers!

'While Twitter is talking #gamingconfession, back in 2018 41% of Sims players confessed to us that they had killed their Sims on purpose, with the ever popular swimming pool death the most common method'

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Now I know we cannot take polls as 100% accurate but some of their political polling has been spot on in the past. At least Yougov had proven their worth during that point so should it be a worry that up to 41% of us have actually killed their Sims on purpose? Or does it come as a surprise as their are deviant players amongst us.

For me it has been a long time since I have killed a Sim on purpose but I have experimented before. I am from the TS1 era so you can imagine how wild things used to be back then. My worst was building a hedge around a house and placing a BBQ next to it and then letting the BBQ catch fire and watch it slowly take out almost the whole hedge. I left free will off though and no Sims died during this experiment.

Shall we accept that roughly 41% of players have been deviant at some point or shall we 'wait for Survation' as the joke goes*



*
Survation is another pollster and in the olden days if people on Twitter did not like a Yougov poll then they would say 'I will wait for Survation'
Simbourne
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Comments

  • logionlogion Posts: 4,712 Member
    edited July 2020
    They could just ask Maxis. They collect data from you when you play the game. They made a picture once which showed how many times their players have had their sims woohoo. They have also shared that they know what is the most common amount of sims in a household. I'm pretty sure they know all sorts of things.
  • king_of_simcity7king_of_simcity7 Posts: 25,102 Member
    @logion wrote: »
    They could just ask Maxis. They collect data from you when you play the game. They made a picture once which showed how many times their players have had their sims woohoo. They have also shared that they know what is the most common amount of sims in a household. I'm pretty sure they know all sorts of things.

    Only for TS4 though. Us TS3 players are a mystery to EA these days!
    Simbourne
    screenshot_original.jpg
  • CamkatCamkat Posts: 2,329 Member
    From polls I've seen around the forums and private polls on Twitter, this sounds like it's probably pretty close to accurate. If anything maybe slightly more people do it than have admitted.

    I know that I for one, definitely do. >:) Not all of my sims! Sometimes it's needed for your story though, and sometimes you just don't like that townie... ;)
    Origin ID: Peapod79
  • Sparrow1707Sparrow1707 Posts: 10 New Member
    41% is lower than I expected tbh. I always assumed that it was closer to the 60 mark.
  • fruitsbasket101fruitsbasket101 Posts: 1,530 Member
    edited July 2020
    In the 17+ years i've been playing this game, I have not once ever killed a sim on purpose. Accidentally yes but never on purpose.
    Have a super fantastic awesome splendid amazing day! -TheQxxn
  • OrangeSodaSINOrangeSodaSIN Posts: 58 Member
    i found an article (mind you did not click it) forgot where it was but the headline was "children and pre-teens kill sims on purpose, should you be worried?" really? heh i don't think i am horrible person nor is anyone else that kills pixels (granted i hardly never kill my sims, probably annoying townies and npcs every once in a while)
  • texxx78texxx78 Posts: 5,657 Member
    I have killed sims on purpose in all the ways mentioned in this poll. I assure all my friends and not so friends that they shouldn't worry 🤣

    Now, how many characters has a teen killed on shooters games...? Or any other kind of games where characters get killed...?
  • InuMiroLoverInuMiroLover Posts: 1,184 Member
    I would say that that's a fair number to go off of. Deviant play is just as much a play style as realistic play, and I would find it silly to assume that deviant play is a very very very small minority. Besides, just how is the simmer killing off their sims? Finding just whatever weird and wacky combination will kill their sim? Or going buckwild with mods? Is there a sim genocide everyday or just a once in a blue moon occurrence? There's probably simmers who wont admit to deviant play at all publicly!

    Ive killed sims on purpose. There was one sim I thought was incredibly annoying and I hated her face, so I decided she just needed to be set on fire. Another time I was trying out a new mod and I decided to have one sim die of severe illness. This was also for story purposes. If I decide to kill off a sim, I dont always have a reason nor do I look for one. Sometimes they just need to GO.
  • Calico45Calico45 Posts: 2,038 Member
    I mean, I have. I have also lost some accidentally, but that was more when I first started playing back in the Sims 1 days. Granted, I have remained paranoid about it and things do happen. Anyway, I have played the Sims series just about as long as it has been around, so it is not odd that I have at some point. Regularly, though? No.
  • Nikkei_SimmerNikkei_Simmer Posts: 9,403 Member
    edited July 2020
    Well, my preferred method is by meteor strike... or I just...
    Screenshot-127_nuke2.jpg+
    NRAAS City Hall>Master Controller>Town>Advanced>Total Annihilation.
    https://youtu.be/TIoBrob3bjI
    :mrgreen:





    WHAT?
    JackNicholson%2BCreepyFace.gif
    GYZ6Ak9.png
    Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
  • GraniteFallsLover123GraniteFallsLover123 Posts: 26 Member
    What's the difference between starving and trapping in a room with no doors? Is starving just not buying a fridge? I feel like they'll probably just run off and find a barbecue somewhere. I used to purposefully kill sims more, now I usually just delete them if they're annoying because otherwise the other sims get really sad for days and days. Which makes sense in some circumstances, but they're always sad regardless of their relationship with the dead sim.
  • DeadManHBKDeadManHBK Posts: 117 Member
    do that many people really kill off their sims? on purpose?? it has happened once or twice for me personally, but that was only on ts1 when it was so hard to get rid of a sim. if i can remember correctly, it was the only way to get rid of adults. i rarely create someone i don't like, though, so i guess i don't get the point?
    500c175dfecfd4bfdb430b6ae61d85abc33cef98_hq.gif

    A n a l Na t h r a c h D o c h e'l D e'n m h a
    A n a l Na t h r a c h T i e r a N a t r a c h...
  • AnmirlaAnmirla Posts: 3,835 Member
    *Raises hand* I have no shame. >:)

    insert Beavis screenie - FIRE! FIRE!
    baby%20bat_zpsgzvzhrnc.gif
  • Seera1024Seera1024 Posts: 3,629 Member
    DeadManHBK wrote: »
    do that many people really kill off their sims? on purpose?? it has happened once or twice for me personally, but that was only on ts1 when it was so hard to get rid of a sim. if i can remember correctly, it was the only way to get rid of adults. i rarely create someone i don't like, though, so i guess i don't get the point?

    The poll doesn't go into the reason so this poll includes:
    • People who killed a Sim just to see what the Sims 3 Ghost looked like before we could make ghosts in CAS.
    • People playing Sims 2 Prosperity Challenges who had an adult-less house with teens and younger who wanted to benefit from the orphan scholarship
    • Killing off that one townie who constantly kicked over your trashcan in Sims 2
    • Wanted to see what the death animation looked like for a particular death
    • Wanted to see how hard it is to kill off a Sim
    • Apocalypse Challenge players killing off Sims before they become uncontrollable elders before appropriate restrictions are lifted to get around that or lift it.

    It also just asked if you've ever done it on purpose - not if you regularly do it either. So you'd count as part of that 41%. You'd just have to have done it one time to qualify. Even if you've had millions of other Sims you never killed intentionally.
  • ScobreScobre Posts: 20,665 Member
    I like killing Sims.
    “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    edited July 2020
    No, we should not believe surveys. Surveys are different than actual polls. Surveys invite people to answer a question. Therefore, there is no way to get an accurate count of how many 'Simmers' actually answered or the reason why they may have killed a Sim. Polls actually contact an actual Simmer who may believe in killing a Sim or may not believe in killing a Sim. Two groups those who do it, and those who don't are contacted by pollsters instead of just invited to answer an online survey. In an online survey anyone and everyone, everywhere (if they see it) can answer. But a real poll will ask 50% of those who are on one side and 50% of the other side. If it doesn't do that, then no you can't believe a survey which isn't scientific nor a poll that doesn't call up and ask the same on each side. So, no, you can't take any of them seriously. But I have killed Sims to see what would happen to the living and the dead. Failure states have always been more interesting to me in The Sims than happy go lucky, perfect lives. And in older games if you wanted a community lot with career rewards on it and or LTW rewards etc. you had to kill off the Sim then convert the lot to community, so not knowing the reasons is also a bad survey if you put any stock in an online survey. And if you want to share a ghostly filled grave yard or neighborhood (older games) Sims had to die. >:)

    lol, also, they didn't ask Maxis how many Sims they killed off on purpose. Think of the Goths in TS1 that yard is full of dead Sims, or that lady in TS2 with all the dead husbands buried in the backyard, or the community grave yards in TS2 and TS3..full of dead Sims. Or the death token (mistake or not) they gave Bella in TS2. It's not like we are the only ones. :p
    And we aren't the ones who built a game that had different colored ghosts in game for something to reach to get each color by drowning, starving, freezing, over heating, aspiration failure, etc. Or reward a teen Sim with a scholarship if they suddenly became an orphan. Or make it possible for teens to live on their own if suddenly parent Sims magically died, :D , degenerates aren't the players but those who make it possible, but I'm glad they did. :D
    Post edited by Cinebar on
    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
  • Seera1024Seera1024 Posts: 3,629 Member
    edited July 2020
    Cinebar wrote: »
    No, we should not believe surveys. Surveys are different than actual polls. Surveys invite people to answer a question. Therefore, there is no way to get an accurate count of how many 'Simmers' actually answered or the reason why they may have killed a Sim. Polls actually contact an actual Simmer who may believe in killing a Sim or may not believe in killing a Sim. Two groups those who do it, and those who don't are contacted by pollsters instead of just invited to answer an online survey. In an online survey anyone and everyone, everywhere (if they see it) can answer. But a real poll will ask 50% of those who are on one side and 50% of the other side. If it doesn't do that, then no you can't believe a survey which isn't scientific nor a poll that doesn't call up and ask the same on each side. So, no, you can't take any of them seriously. But I have killed Sims to see what would happen to the living and the dead. Failure states have always been more interesting to me in The Sims than happy go lucky, perfect lives. And in older games if you wanted a community lot with career rewards on it and or LTW rewards etc. you had to kill off the Sim then convert the lot to community, so not knowing the reasons is also a bad survey if you put any stock in an online survey. And if you want to share a ghostly filled grave yard or neighborhood (older games) Sims had to die. >:)

    lol, also, they didn't ask Maxis how many Sims they killed off on purpose. Think of the Goths in TS1 that yard is full of dead Sims, or that lady in TS2 with all the dead husbands buried in the backyard, or the community grave yards in TS2 and TS3..full of dead Sims. Or the death token (mistake or not) they gave Bella in TS2. It's not like we are the only ones. :p
    And we aren't the ones who built a game that had different colored ghosts in game for something to reach to get each color by drowning, starving, freezing, over heating, aspiration failure, etc. Or reward a teen Sim with a scholarship if they suddenly became an orphan. Or make it possible for teens to live on their own if suddenly parent Sims magically died, :D , degenerates aren't the players but those who make it possible, but I'm glad they did. :D

    I wouldn't say to disregard surveys. You just have to know number of participants and how the participants were chosen to really be able to do anything with it.

    This survey is pretty useless though.

    To many variables to really get any kind of useful conclusions out of just the two questions asked. Even if you could prove that every participant is or was a Simmer at some point.
    Post edited by Seera1024 on
  • Bettyboop55Bettyboop55 Posts: 2,646 Member
    YouGov eh? You would think a Government poll would have more important things to poll UK citizens about but it would appear this poll is genuine.

    Personally I would put the percentage much higher. I once hosted a tread in TS3 which showed most simmers had at one time or another experimented wit ways to murder their sims. So from that I would say simmers are a pretty creative lot which means death by drowning may not really be the top choice. Not very scientific to base these things on anecdotal evidence. I would also not rely on Origin to provide the answers. Who can safely say how many players game offline.

    As for being worried. Well yes at the time of writing my thread I was certainly concerned. However one of the joys of simming is the flexibility to safely experiment and I would say my niece and nephew, who both grew up with the sims, have turned out reasonably well adjusted individuals.

    Incidentally I have never deliberately harmed a sim. I have lost two to accidents in 18 years of playing. Then again I did not start simming until my forties so perhaps I was already over my murderous instincts.
    I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
    Wherever I am friends call me Betty

    Sim enim est vita
  • Felicity1169Felicity1169 Posts: 592 Member
    It's not surprising nor do I find it that worrying...after all how can you create a haunted house if you don't kill a few sims first? (Except the Sims 3 where you could just create a ghost)
  • SimburianSimburian Posts: 6,906 Member
    Did they refer to all iterations? I certainly killed off a lot in "The Sims" just for the hell of it.

    In Sims 2 and 3 I was desperately trying to keep them living as it was tough fulfulling their needs withour mods.

    In Sims 4 I am letting my own Sims die naturally but am pruning the Sims in-game to not actually live at all ....so does that count?
  • Cavapoo_KingCavapoo_King Posts: 5,148 Member
    Me, my mum and my sister have all done it
    Gallery ID: cavapoo_king
  • SheepilingSheepiling Posts: 579 Member
    I like keeping family graveyards like the Goths do, and I try to get one of every ghost type, so sometimes when a sim is an elder and close to dying of old age, I'll kill them in a different way. Also, I've done this to a spare in my legacy before as well because the family was too big, and I don't like moving sims out of the main household. My sims are either in the fam for me to play with or they're in the graveyard haunting us. :D
  • FroilFroil Posts: 102 Member
    I'll admit I have killed Sims on purpose before, usually by drowning... But I only ever did it for the sake of story or if the (usually NPC) Sim really made me mad. The first Sims 4 one I killed was on purpose too, but with laughter.
  • Pamtastic72Pamtastic72 Posts: 4,545 Member
    I have killed sims on purpose many times, I am not ashamed. In fact I have in my library a corpulent burnt umber colored sim with cheese yellow hair that I frequently load in and go bananas with certain mods on because it’s cheaper than therapy. >:)
  • Nikkei_SimmerNikkei_Simmer Posts: 9,403 Member
    edited August 2020
    ...so...how many people will be able to kill off their simmies if they look like this?
    7b335ea26234526b604c.jpeg
    ...grins evilly... slowly raises hand.

    There's always something to be said for a good solid meteor strike or a det pack. :innocent:
    GYZ6Ak9.png
    Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
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