The Sims may be one of the most beloved game franchises in the world, but it's by no means perfect. It has its flaws, it has its quirks, and it has all manner of weird mechanics that players love to hate. Of course, even the most dedicated Simmers love to have a good laugh at the game's expense every now and again - and that's where comics and memes come in. All of The Sims franchise's funniest flaws and strangest secrets have been brought to life by dozens of talented artists,  and we'll be eternally grateful to them for their hilarious work.

Of course, it's not just The Sims' issues that we love to have a good old laugh about. In general, these are some amazing games that are still entertaining gamers everywhere after nearly 20 years on the market. Whether you're a builder, a character creator, a storyteller, or someone who just likes to cause havoc in your Sims' lives, you'll know that this franchise has something for everyone. You can play it on mobile, PC, console... The options are endless, and it's wonderful! There's a reason why some of us are still addicted to The Sims after literal decades, y'know! The extent of some Simmers' love for the franchise is perfect comic material, as is the often ridiculous lengths that some players will go to in order to make the most out of the game.

Without further ado, here are some of the funniest Sims comics out there that anyone who's played the franchise will relate to.

25 Everyone Loves The Grim Reaper

Okay, let's be real: who hasn't tried to make one of their Sims get a bit TOO close to the Grim Reaper at some point in their game? This comic by Deya Muniz is pretty darn relatable for most Simmers. As the ways to interact with the Reaper have become more and more extensive in each Sims installment, so have people's aspirations for this spectral fiend. If you thought that this dude only showed up to reap your Sim's soul, oh boy, you're in for a treat.

From The Sims 2 onwards, it became possible to become good friends with the Grim Reaper - or even his lover. You can move him into your household - sometimes with cheats, sometimes without - and even have a weird human-reaper hybrid baby! The latter option isn't recommended, though, as it's been known to break the game. To be fair, it is a bit of an unusual concept.

Thanks to all of these gameplay options involving Death himself, quite a few of us Simmers can now identify with the situation in this comic. In fact, "make out" is a bit too tame for some players! But since nobody really wants to think about the idea of Woohoo-ing with the Grim Reaper, let's move swiftly on...

24 EA's Idea Of A Compromise

If you ask any Simmer their opinion on EA's treatment of The Sims 4 and its expansion packs, they'll probably have a fair bit to say - and not all of it will be positive. As this comic by Tim Buckley of Ctrl + Alt + Del highlights, one of the biggest pet peeves of many fans is the fact that the base game of Sims 4 excluded a lot of popular features from previous games. Particularly notable were the absence of the "toddler" age stage and the lack of swimming pools in Build Mode.

Now, toddlers are great and all, but it was the missing pools that really irritated Simmers everywhere. Macabre as it sounds, one of the best-known tricks from the original Sims was the whole deleting-the-pool-ladders-to-end-your-Sim process! Even though you can't actually do this anymore in the later games, the pool is an iconic Sims object that should be respected and revered! How dare EA deprive us of this historically important item?

Eventually, EA did add both pools and toddlers to The Sims 4 thanks to a free base game update. However, this hilarious comic will forever commemorate how annoyed fans were about the whole thing. We're pretty glad the whole pool-toddler hybrid creature never actually existed though. It looks pretty darn creepy...

23 Living Your Best Life

If anyone ever tries to tell you that they've never made themselves and their crush on Sims and forced the two characters to get married, they're lying. Yes, it's kinda embarrassing and maybe even a tad creepy, but we've all done it. What better way to live out your fantasies than in a harmless life simulation game like this? As this comic by C-Cassandra hilariously highlights, we all find a way to live our best lives on The Sims. Even if we never achieve our goals in reality, at least our animated selves managed it!

The process here is simple.

First, you make a version of yourself in Create-A-Sim. Maybe you choose to go as realistic as possible, creating your Simself with all of your real-life quirks and flaws still present. Or, in a more likely turn of events, you make the dream version of yourself that you've always wanted to see in the mirror. Parents won't let you dye your hair? Just do it on The Sims! Too scared to get a tattoo in real life? Just plop one on your body in your simulated world!

Next, of course, you create your current crush and engineer things so that they just happen to meet your Simself. After this, the story turns into the definition of "that escalated quickly." Within literal minutes you guys are married, have a crop of adorable little children running about, and live in the house of your dreams. If only life imitated art all of the time, eh?

22 The Roof Is On Fire

C-Cassandra has really hit the nail on the head with her Sims comics! This time around, she addresses another common cause of a Sim's demise: fire. Depending on your perspective, the fire mechanic in every Sims game is either really annoying or the kind of chaos that you love. If your Sim tries to make a simple serving of toast without leveling their cooking skill up sufficiently, they can be consumed in a burning inferno within seconds. Whatever you do, don't forget to add that smoke alarm to the kitchen...

Unless you enjoy living a life of danger, of course. 

As this comic suggests, sometimes, fire can come in really, REALLY handy. We all have that Sim who was really fun to play as to start with but quickly got dull and kinda irritating. You could just delete the Sim and make a new game... Or, you could gleefully bump them off in a tragic mac-and-cheese related accident. Once that fire gets going, it's pretty difficult to put it out in time. You'll have the Grim Reaper at your door in no time. It's a handy technique to keep in mind, especially now that the pool mechanic has been written out of the game! Man, it's almost like EA don't want us to ruthlessly "get rid" of all of our Sims... But where's the fun in that?

21 He Knew Too Much

The dark humor of this comic by AdrianaGameOver is familiar to anyone who's ever considered what it would be like to have self-aware Sims. Now, I don't want to get too deep here with you guys, but think about it: if you were a Sim, you'd probably have a LOT of super weird things happen to you. For example, money would start to suddenly appear in your bank account with the reference "motherlode", "kaching", or "Rosebud"! That may not sound like a bad thing, but you'd understand a Sim getting a bit freaked out if it happened!

Another question: if a Sim did start to wonder whether their actions were being controlled by a higher power, would their fellow beings believe them? This comic thinks not, and it does kinda make sense: even in the real world, the question of whether we have free will or not is still hotly debated by philosophers!

It looks like this Sim was definitely on to something with his musings... Which is why he had to go. After all, you can't have him exposing all of the secrets of the game to his friends, can you? One misjudged use of the oven with a low cooking skill, and bam. He's gone, and his conspiracy theories have bit the dust too. Think about it, though. What if WE are just pawns in someone's huge simulation? Would we ever know if this was the case? would we WANT to know?! So many questions...

20 Playing Deity

Here's another comic that'll get you all wondering whether we, in fact, are all Sims ourselves. If you think about it, the gameplay of the Sims franchise is basically like playing God. If building things is your jam you can create a world of your own, full of houses and community lots that fit your vision. If you're all about that storytelling, you get to choose the life paths of characters of your own creation. You end up controlling everything from what they eat for breakfast to the names of their children. The green plumbob over your Sim's head is the ultimate sign that you own them.

But how can we be sure that there aren't invisible plumbobs above our own heads?

Maybe someone - or something - is controlling everything about our lives too! Someone else might be "playing God" with our lives - perhaps a deity of some kind, or maybe just a committed gamer playing another huge life simulation. All I can say is this: if this is just all a simulation and there is someone making my life choices for me, could you send a cheeky "motherlode" into my bank account, please? It would be much appreciated!

19 Classic Sims Logic

Don't get me wrong, I love the Sims franchise with all my heart... But why on earth did the game's developers make our characters so stupid?! You all know what I mean: Sims seem to constantly make illogical choices, even when it comes to doing the simplest tasks in their routines. This comic by Kelvarin on DeviantArt sums up one eternal problem: Sims choosing to use the toilet as a dining chair. Just... Why?

There are so many things wrong with this situation. Firstly, it's very likely that an ACTUAL CHAIR exists somewhere in this Sim's house. Why not eat your food there? If they don't own a chair for some reason, why did they think that the toilet is the next best option? That's just unhygienic, man! Go sit on your bed or something!

Then, there's the other gameplay mechanic covered in this comic: the gross offense of a Sim walking in on someone else in the bathroom. Like, this happens way too much. While we've all maybe made this mistake a couple of times in our lives, our Sims seem to do it every single freaking day. Can they not hear that the shower is running? Does the Sim in the bathroom constantly forget to lock the door? Not only is this mechanic incredibly annoying, it can also have a negative effect on gameplay. It's either going to ruin two Sims' friendship or make them mortally embarrassed. Neither of these is a good option.

18 Too Much Sims?

Is there really such thing as too much Sims in anyone's life? Well, yes, if you become as obsessed as the character in this comic by Shadowcy on DeviantArt! Pretty much every Sims fan has got to that point where the game has started to blur in with reality. It's so easy to go on a 12-hour Sims binge if you've got nothing else to do (or even if you had), and the results can be hilarious.

For one, you might start to think in the same way that the game's menus operate! The fridge is an excellent example. To be fair, it would be a lot easier if a list of every meal we could make suddenly appeared whenever we decided we wanted to cook! Then you have the relationship points mechanic. I'll be honest, I've had awkward conversations where I can practically see that minus sign floating above someone's head.

Now, one aspect of this comment that I imagine most people don't do is speaking Simlish. You could play The Sims for hours and hours and still not have the fainted grasp on this made-up language! Sure, we all know that sounds like "Sul Sul!" and "GARBA!!!!" come out of our Sims' mouths on a regular basis... But could we have an actual conversation like this? Probably not. Still, it's fun to start speaking Simlish at people and see just how confused they get. If they get the reference, you've probably made a new friend then and there!

17 If The Sims Was Real...

Although all of the Sims games claim to be "life" simulators, some mechanics that your players encounter just wouldn't fly in the real world. As this hilarious comic by Adam Ellis shows, some features of the games would seriously help us in real life - and others would be a nightmare to deal with. I'm talking about the pool ladder one, guys. Can you imagine how terrifying that would be?

In other ways, though, being a Sims character wouldn't be too bad.

The careers seem to be a whole lot easier to get into than their real-world counterparts! You can become a master surgeon without a college education - all you need to do is play chess to raise your logic skill and make a friend or two! You can also become the Leader of the Free World simply by being a vain jerk who talks to themselves in the mirror a lot. Wait, hang on - that doesn't sound too far from reality after all...

Of course, the best Sims function that really needs to exist in real life is Motherlode. Can you imagine? All of your college debt would be wiped out with the click of a button! You could have your dream house in seconds! It's the stuff of dreams for pretty much everyone. Even a Rosebud or two wouldn't hurt!

16 Wake Up!

Imagine the scene: you've been on a total Sims binge for around ten hours now. It's 3 am, and you know you should go to bed, but your Sim just HAS to get to the next stage of their career tonight! It doesn't matter that you have work in the morning: gaming takes precedence right now. What are responsibilities, anyway? You're going to soldier on and keep playing - although maybe you can rest your eyes for a couple of minutes...

Suddenly, you awake with a start. It's been two hours. You forgot to press pause before your impromptu nap, and it's a total disaster. Three of your Sims perished in a fire while trying to make some pancakes. You weren't there to save them. The others are all on the brink of starvation, exhaustion, and incontinence. Turns out these virtual humans are a bit like babies - if you leave them alone even for a little while, they just can't fend for themselves. The game is ruined, all because of that brief nap...

Yeah, we've all been in the situation depicted in this comic by RaeSC at Wicked Reasoning. Even if you leave your computer for five minutes without pausing your Sims game, there can be some pretty disastrous consequences. Falling asleep only adds to the risk! Always remember to pause, kids - and take regular sleeping breaks during a Sims marathon!

15 How To React To A House Fire

Once again, we have a comic that highlights just how freaking stupid the fire mechanic in The Sims can be. Dorkly has hit the nail on the head right here: why don't your Sims even attempt to escape the burning inferno that threatens to engulf them? In fact, why do they all RUN TOWARDS IT without thinking of the consequences? Like, sure, if another Sim is in the vicinity of the disaster, I can understand trying to rescue them. Sadly, that's not even an option in this game.

Our Sims rush to the site of the fire out of pure stupidity.

Another utterly ridiculous thing about fires in this game is the fact that our Sims are often too preoccupied worrying about the fact they're on fire to actually extinguish themselves. Like, if you catch the flames quickly enough, you can stop any major being done to your character. Yes, your stove will probably be totally charred, but they can be replaced. The thing is, our Sims often seem to have multiple actions queued up that have to be canceled before you can even attempt to put the fire out. "Panic About Fire!" "FIRE!!!!!" and "View Fire" are options that should go with the Grim Reaper and never come back. They just keep popping up and up until it's too late, and a wooden table placed too close to a fireplace has caused a major disaster. JUST WHY.

14 "Skills" In Real Life

Ah, the Sims "skills" mechanic: it's simple, yet effective! You spend your time - or rather, your Sim's time - performing basic tasks that relate to the skill in question. You grind and grind until eventually, your Sim becomes a total master in their chosen vocation! Who hasn't forced their character to talk to the mirror for hours to bump up their Charisma, or had them make ten cakes to grind that Cooking skill?

This hilarious comic by Tim Buckley of Ctrl + Alt + Delete imagines what it would be like if we had Sims-like skill points to build up in real life. To be fair, I think most of us would be confused if our roommate started cooking dozens and dozens of meals for no apparent reason! Saying that, how convenient would it be if all you had to do to become a fantastic cook is bake ten cakes in a row? Celebrity chefs would have to watch out - we'd all be coming for their gigs!

If we could have any Sims skill in real life, though, it would have to be the fitness skill. Think about it: if your Sim works out a couple of times a day for long enough, they max out this skill and become totally buff - usually for the rest of their life! If it worked like that in reality, we could all quit the gym by the time we're 25 and stay fit forever. That would be the dream.

13 Once You Start, There's No Going Back

This comic by Kristen Stewart (no, not THAT one) on DeviantArt presents a scene that's familiar to many Sims players. Each of these characters represents a different level of Sims fandom. First, you have the figure dressed in white, who's clearly a seasoned and dedicated player. She's so absorbed in The Sims that she can't even bring herself to reply to the criticisms of her friend. What do real-life people matter when you've got a Sim who's about to max out their cooking skill and complete their Aspiration? You might even say that this character is a Sims addict: she barely leaves the house because she'd rather be sat inside playing The Sims 2. Honestly, I sympathize.

Then you have the character dressed in black. At first, it looks like she's not too fussed about The Sims at all. In fact, she directly criticizes her friend for playing it so much, claiming that spending so much time on it is "pathetic". Um, rude! We all know that the Sims franchise is far from pathetic... Including this character, apparently, since her hatred of the game isn't quite what it seems. As much as she tries to resist the pull of her friend's game, she can't help but get involved in the interior design aspect. See, there's something in the Sims franchise for everyone - even those who are still in denial about how great it is! Don't even try to resist its pull, guys. You'll get hooked on it eventually.

12 It's Promotion Time!

If you're looking for a totally unrealistic depiction of the world of work, The Sims is the franchise for you! A lot of Millennials were probably given false hope about their career prospects thanks to this game. Unfortunately, in real life, it takes more than having 9 friends and a Logic skill of 10 to become a famous scientist.  As this comic by Seratyo on FunnyJunk shows, the Sims version of the workplace really wouldn't make sense if you transferred it into real life.

For one, there's the weird promotion structure portrayed in the comic. Can you imagine if your real-life boss asked you to "practice speech" in front of a mirror for twelve hours in order to get a promotion? It might take less time than traditional promotion routes, but it would be a bit weird.

Also, can we talk about the fact that our Sims sometimes get promoted for days in a row? You can go from the bottom rung of a career to being a mid-level employee within the space of a week! Again, while we'd love it if that was possible in reality, we're likely to be working our way up in our jobs for a whole lot longer than that. Sad times.

11 Time Flies When You're Playing The Sims

To be honest, this comic by Hannah Hillam is true for the majority of video games. You tell yourself that you're just going to have a quick few minutes playing... And before you know it, hours have gone by. You've been sat in the dark for hours because the sun went down but you didn't notice. Part of you is ashamed that you wasted a whole day playing games, but you're also kinda impressed that you stayed that focused for so long. See, every situation has a positive if you look really hard for it!

It's incredibly easy to lose track of time while playing The Sims for so many different reasons. When you're building a house, for example, you can casually spend hours and hours making every corner of it utterly perfect. Interior design always takes longer than you think, and it somehow feels wrong to leave a build unfinished! Who cares if it takes you four or five hours straight? Totally worth it, right?

Then there's the fact that The Sims doesn't have "levels", checkpoints, or any real goals at all. There's no obvious point when you should stop playing... Meaning you probably just won't. The game doesn't prompt you to take a break, and even if your Sim passes away, you can always keep on playing as their child. And then their grandchild. And then their great-grandchild... It's a slippery, time-consuming slope!

10 Time To Age Up!

If you're an OG Sims player, you'll remember the days when your characters remained the same age, no matter how long you played them for. Children never reached adulthood; adult Sims stayed that way for all eternity. Passing away from old age simply wasn't a thing - hence pool ladder deletion and unexpected fires being the major ways to end a Sim's life. Those were the days, eh?

Of course, this all changed with The Sims 2, when aging and life stages were incorporated into the game. These days, you can see babies become toddlers, angelic children age into rebellious teenagers, and older Sims become doddery elders. It certainly adds another layer of realism to the game - and it also adds birthdays! You bake the Sim a cake, get them to blow out the candles, and BAM - they age up!

However, as this comic by Shadowcy on DeviantArt hilariously highlights, you can basically force a Sim to age up at any time if you bake them a birthday cake. It doesn't matter if the game claims that the Sim has 8 days left in their current life stage. These magical candles will fast forward the clock, and force a birthday to happen. This trick doesn't work in real life, though - as much as the mom in this comic might want it to!

9 Simception

Time for another comic that'll slightly blow your mind and totally have you questioning reality. Yeah... There seems to be a lot of art like this in the Sims fandom! Anyway, as this comic by The Very Near Future shows, it's actually possible for characters in The Sims to play The Sims. Yep, really. Simception is actually a thing. It's a pretty neat touch by Maxis, but also one that could trigger an existential crisis if you think too hard about it.

So, let's say you find yourself in this situation: your Sim is playing The Sims, or Sims Forever as it's called in The Sims 4. That means you're a human controlling a Sim who's controlling a Sim. But what if the Sim in Sims Forever is also playing The Sims? That would make them a Sim being played by a Sim being played by a Sim being played by you! Try saying that three times quickly... This chain could, in theory, go on forever: dozens and dozens of Sims could play The Sims!

Then there's the question we've already addressed earlier on: what if WE'RE Sims being controlled by the Big Gamer In The Sky? Are we in the middle of the Simception chain, rather than at the starting point? My brain hurts...

8 A Full Relationship Meter

Seriously, Shadowcy's Sims comics are all just so on point. This one addresses the relationship system in the games, and how freaking easy it is to get close to people compared to in the real world! You can go from strangers to best buds in the space of five minutes, and friends to soulmates even more quickly. All it takes is spamming the same social interactions again and again until the friendship meter raises to the required point. To be honest, if someone came up to me in the street and used "Compliment Appearance" twenty times, I'd probably avoid them rather than marry them.

Ah well - that's Sims logic for you!

It's not just forming attachments that's a lot easier in the Sims franchise. Keeping friends is a breeze as well! As this comic points out, you can not speak to your virtual spouse for literal days and still be madly in love with them. You only really need to call your friends once in a blue moon to keep that friendship bar high. Once you've got a bond with someone, it takes you actively insulting them for the bar to go significantly down. This Sims logic would be perfect in real life for the anti-social people of the world!

7 The Struggle Is Real

It's easy to underestimate just how addictive The Sims is if you've never played it. How could people get so sucked in when all they do is build houses? It must be so boring to play with the same Sims again and again, am I right?! Well... No. These people are not right, as they discover when they actually play the game for themselves. This comic from Karma9999 on DeviantArt depicts just that: a total Sims noob being immediately enthralled by the game.

Frankly, if any gamer has managed to get this far in life without encountering a single Sims game, they must have been living under a rock. There's the PC series, the console installments, spin-offs like Bustin' Out, the new mobile game... So many options! Still, some uninitiated gamers do exist... For now, at least. As this comic shows, if a friend introduces you to The Sims, you basically end up signing your life away.

Nobody starts playing a Sims game with the expectation that they'll quickly become addicted. Especially if you've never encountered the franchise before, you're likely to see it as a cool life simulation to dip into every now and again. However, the truth couldn't be more different. You'll spend hours and hours dedicated to your virtual neighborhoods and their inhabitants - you might as well just accept it from the start!

6 Not Just Interior Design

One of the most amazing things about the Sims franchise is its versatility. There really is something for everyone in these games! If creativity and architecture is your thing, you can spend your time building impressive mansions. If you're a character-driven player, Create-A-Sim awaits. You can craft Sims to your heart's content, developing intricate personalities and exciting storylines for your favorite characters. Storytellers really can have a field day in this game.

There are so many cool features that can make your Sims' lives exciting!

Then you have the players who fire up The Sims to de-stress... Or to just mess about. As this comic by Ierdna on DeviantArt shows, this game is most definitely not just about building houses. In fact, it can get pretty twisted if you want it to! A common trick is referenced in the comic's final panel: trapping a Sim in a room by removing the door. The room in question is usually totally empty, meaning the Sim can't fulfill any of their needs. The "fun" starts when you wait and see how long it'll take them to wet themselves, starve, or pass out from exhaustion. Yeah... Some gamers actually do that! Each to their own, I guess...