Over the 16 years since The Sims first launched, it's become quite a habit for gamers to torture their little Sims.

Gamers have taken to Reddit, to the official forums and other online alternatives to proudly vocalise what horrible, horrible things they've done to their Sims over the years.

And to give you a giggle – or maybe more of a nervous chuckle – we've collected the best/worst of them all here.

1. VAMPIRE PROBLEMS

The story from kaybee41906 involves some vampires, some children and the sun.

"I didn't exactly mean to do this, but I had a vampire couple that had triplets. They couldn't get up during the day to take care of the babies because they would burn up and start to die, even though I put no windows on the house. They were also really poor so they couldn't hire a nanny.

"So the babies would cry, the vampires would wake up and try to take care of them quickly, then go back to their coffins. But the babies cried so much that eventually both parents died and the social worker took the kids away.

"Not a good experience for anyone involved."

2. THE CUCKOLD AND THE PAINTER

When you combine a Sim with a "Hopeless Romantic" life goal and another with an anti-social, artistic type, you're going to have issues. And that's exactly what happened to Redditor badcollin while playing The Sims 3.

One of my Sims had the desire to sleep with ten people. She had a husband who was an artist. He was always in his studio endlessly painting, he had a bed in there, he was completely dedicated. Every time she had a lover over I had him paint the scene in the bedroom. He never caught her as he rarely left his studio but all the time he was obliviously painting her infidelity. Obviously I hung these paintings all over the house.

3. THE SERIAL BLACK WIDOW

Another romance-related Sims story comes from haydibakalim on Reddit, who admitted making a Black Widow Sim with a good side.

"I made a Black Widow, a female Sim who would marry men and on the wedding day I would lock him up in the basement and basically starve him. Her secret cemetery/basement had like twenty urns. I didn't even do it for the money (I would donate it all away, she had the 'good' trait so it would actually benefit her too). I never had her have sex with any of them either, she died a virgin after adopting a baby girl and then I repeated the entire cycle with her as well."

4. SOCIAL SUICIDE

Usually stories about the evil deeds done to Sims include death in some form, but that wasn't the plan for Redditor connain. Instead, he decided to make everyone ridiculously embarrassed about bowel movements.

"So one day I was in a mischievous mood so I decided to perform a 'social experiment'. I built a very bland house. Basically a big square of unpainted walls without windows and only 1 door. Once I had the whole neighbourhood trapped inside I remove the only way out.

"Inside the house there was one refrigerator (no starving to death allowed) and, right in the centre of the house, a single toilet. I wanted to see which Sims would unashamedly use the toilet in full view of everyone else. Most did not want to.

"Slowly I would shrink the walls as people moved away from them forcing everyone closer and closer to that one, lone toilet. The whole neighbourhood, all fed and needing to use the toilet, nearly all too ashamed to use it, standing around in a tight, confined space all staring at the toilet longingly. Many were standing in puddles. Woe betide those that fainted."

5. CASSANDRA AND THE PIZZA

What initially seems like a lovely story about one Reddit user (hdah24) playing The Sims with their brother, is actually quite a dark tale about an obsession with pizza.

"Me and my big brother used to play The Sims together back in the day. We were playing the Goth family, if anyone remembers them. The daughter was called Cassandra, and she was our victim.

"I say victim. The truth was, it was retribution.

"You see, Cassandra kept ordering pizzas. There was plenty of food in the house and sometimes Bella had even cooked and served dinner. But Cassandra still ordered her pizza. You had to always be watching her, prepared to cancel the action every time she tried it. If you looked away for a minute, as my big brother often did, the little bitch would order more pizza.

"Her habit was costing us thousands of simoleons. We were trying to save up for a pool but we were about 5 squares short because of Cassandra's pizza addiction.

"So my older brother hatched a plan. He let Cassandra order a pizza. He then told her to take it outside, where he had bought a long dining table. He told her to put her pizza at one end of the dining table, before making her walk to the opposite end.

"Then, he built our pool around the table. Without pool ladders, she couldn't get in. She was now on an island, trapped. But the most devious part of the story? She couldn't reach her f**king pizza.

"We watched as she starved. She could see her pizza but she couldn't get to it. She pleaded and begged for help. But we were not interested. She became desperate, sleeping whilst standing up, pissing on the spot, going crazy because of lack of social.

"Eventually, she couldn't go on. She starved to death. We had taught her a valuable lesson."

6. BOB

Sadly, Reddit user evie09 has since deleted their account, but not before Kotaku picked up her story about Bob.

"I was playing this weird PS2 version of The Sims 2 when I was 8. I had a perfect nuclear family, the husband and wife had good jobs and the house they built was expensive yet tasteful. The children got good grades and were happy. All was well.

"Eventually, the family became rich enough that they needed more room and I decided to build them a new, beautiful house. I spent a good two hours on making this f**king house perfect. It had an indoor pool and everything. But I was only 8 and I had forgotten the most important goddamn thing to buy when you make a house.

"When you move, neighbours from other blocks will come over to greet you. I wasn't watching very carefully, but one of my Sims must have greeted him because suddenly a bald man in a green shirt was in my house. Bob.

"Bob didn't speak to anybody. Bob walked up the first set of stairs and made a beeline to the kitchen. Bob immediately started a fire. Usually when a fire starts it's okay because you have an alarm which notifies the fire department, except I forgot to buy the alarm. Usually when a fire starts, the Sims will run into the room where it is and start freaking out or trying to extinguish it.

"Not Bob. Bob just left. Bob f**king walked away with no emotion, leaving my family to scream and freak out in the kitchen. The mother and the father were both killed in the blaze, and the children were taken away by social services because their parents were dead. They couldn't call for help because I'd also forgotten to buy a phone.

"I watched my favourite family burn and vowed that as long as I lived there would be no safe place for Bob. Every time I created a new neighbourhood he would respawn, always in the same shitty house without friends or family. I have killed Bob in every way available to the game. He has drowned, starved, been killed by aliens and struck by lightning. Every time I started a new game, I'd go and kill Bob first. Nobody else ever came in and burned my house down, or even used my kitchen. Only Bob.

"Bob is deceased in the more recent games. I like to think that I had something to do with it.

"May you never rest, Bob."

7. THE PAINTING GOBLIN

For us, this story from an anonymous imgur user is the most disturbing, but also the most ingenious. Meet The Painting Goblin.

"Every time I play The Sims, I start my family with a painting goblin. I make him/her morbidly obese with green skin. I make sure to give him the following traits: likes to be alone, likes art, hates the outdoors.

"The first thing I do, once I have enough money, is build a small room in the basement, send him down there, and then remove the stairs. I set him up in a tiny little area with only an easel, a toilet, a refrigerator, a bed, a shower, and a trash bin. All he does all day is paint. That's it.

"He paints and paints and paints and paints. Eventually his paintings become very good and worth a lot of money. Every few minutes I go downstairs and sell whatever painting he has finished, and then I return to playing the game. My family always ends up feeling blessed because of their fortune, and they never find out about the horrible secret living beneath their home."

8. AJ THE DICK

From Bob and now to AJ, there have been quite a few characters in The Sims that have really stood out for players. AJ's tale comes from Reddit user funmenjorities who probably regretted using magic in the original Sims game.

"In Makin' Magic I had a brilliant dog called AJ who was loved by the whole family. He never had an off day and brought sheer joy to his owners. Decided to train my wizardry and get the spell that allowed you to turn pets into humans, so AJ could be even more a part of the family.

"He turned out to be the biggest f**king assbag as a person and was abusive to his family, so we had to take care of him. I built a monolithic tomb, and trapped him inside. The family stood out front playing music to him as he slowly starved. They bought a new dog and played with it happily outside his eternal resting place to torture his trapped soul. Eventually a dragon burnt down the house and killed them all.

"What a game."

9. THE HAUNTING

Brianwantstruth really wanted a graveyard for his brand new church, but oh God did the plans backfire.

"I wanted to make a church with a full, complete graveyard. So I built a small, simple structure moved in a family of eight, get them all inside, remove the door, fill with fire. Yay, eight new tombstones! Repeat like nine times, and you've got a full graveyard of tombstones.

"Then I built the church and moved in a priest to live there and tend to the grounds.

"Unfortunately for the priest the grounds had been tainted by the dark rituals of the past and several dozen ghosts would materialise every night. Tormented by the crowds of spectres, he himself died three days later due to never being able to sleep."

10. THE BURGLAR DOUBLE-CROSS

According to Reddit user lifesnotperfect, they had a particular issue with burglars in The Sims 3.

The story goes that one Sim's home kept getting broken into, but you can actually see who the burglar Sim is in The Sims 3.

"So I made my Sim attract the burglar, creating a close bond with them and finally proposing to have them move in," explained lifesnotperfect.

And that's where it gets dark.

"As soon as they moved in, I created a basement where the burglar was kept and a door at the top of the stairs that was only accessible by my main Sim. I made my Sim become very aggressive towards the burglar. Fighting, arguing, insulting them to the point of tears. I'd always get my main Sim to make hotdogs, leave it on the kitchen counter till they rotted then force the burglar to eat them since I had control over them as well once they moved in. [I] would only feed them when the hunger meter was in the absolute red, and they did not have access to windows, showers, toilet or any basic comforts like beds and chairs.

"The burglar finally hit a really old age and was probably close to death, having lived half his life in the dark basement. I decided to have my main Sim throw him a birthday party. Invited his family and friends and had a cake and glorious food."

The player allowed the burglar to have a shower, sleep in a really nice bed and even dress up in a suit for the party. He was served a delicious meal, taken on a walk to the park and his happiness meter had gone through the roof. But it's not over yet.

"On the day of his birthday, his family and friends show up in the party room I made. There was a nice big cake, music was pumping, everyone was happy, especially the burglar. It was cold and rainy outside (Seasons expansion!), but what did it matter because the party room was fitted with... A fireplace. Cue animation of him turning old. Everyone claps and congratulates him.

"That's when my main Sim walks out of the party room and the door to the room disappears.

"Then there's suddenly a carpet near the fireplace. Some people need to leave to pee, but there's no door. More and more fireplaces suddenly appear, each with their own carpet. I build a mezzanine and get the burglar Sim to go upstairs where he has a view of all his family and friends below. Delete the stairs so he has no way to get down. Then, it happens. A fireplace finally lights up the carpet and the room is now quickly catching on fire, filling with smoke, the sound of the burglar's family and friends screaming, suffering, dying. He goes into a frenzied panic as death shows up and takes his loved ones away. The stairs reappear and he goes downstairs, only to suffer the same fate as everyone else he'd known."

That's what happened when you mess with one guy's Sim, apparently.

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