Burning Up Bella

Bella Goth has become an iconic figure in The Sims.

Of all the pre-made characters created for The Sims, perhaps none has become as popular as the iconic Bella Goth. Players have seen her through various incarnations and have followed along with her story.

Most players, at least.

Some of us tend to ignore or even get rid of “pre-mades” so that we can enjoy the game with our own creations instead. That’s usually what I do, although I’ve made a few exceptions over the years.

Of course, when I first began playing The Sims, I started out with a pre-made family. We all played “The Newbies”, didn’t we?

I played the Newbies only long enough to learn the game controls and then moved on to the Goth family. I liked their house. That was the appeal, I think. I clicked on lovely Bella Goth and settled in to enjoy this new game.

Now, you know, of course, how much I love to cook, so the very first thing I did once inside the Goth home was to send Bella to the kitchen. It was early morning. Her family needed breakfast, right? Of course, I had no idea that sims didn’t know how to cook. I sat there in shock watching as Bella burst into flames before my eyes.

What was I supposed to do? I didn’t have a clue, and poor Bella burned to a crisp.

The worst part, I think, was the guilt I felt. Fortunately, even as a “newbie” to the game, I had sense enough to exit without saving, and thus Bella survived the ordeal and lived another day. After that awful beginning, though, I wouldn’t allow my sims to get close to a stove for a long, long time. They ordered out for a lot of pizzas.

“Burning up Bella” became the first of many memorable moments from The Sims, and to this day, I’m always a little nervous when my sims are first learning to cook.

DID YOU KNOW: A picture of Bella Goth can be seen as a “missing person” on a milk carton in Sims 2.

I haven’t followed Bella’s story through the series, nor am I “in the know” on all the theories about her strange disappearance. You can find a lot of speculation archived here:

Bella Goth Theories

By the way, in that original game I played, Cassandra Goth was soon sent off to military school, never to be seen again. Obviously the Goth family didn’t fare too well at my hands. Bella, however, did go on to find happiness. She tired of Mortimer, and ultimately met and married one of my sims. After all the trouble I’d caused for her, letting her find true love was the least I could do.