There are many ways to play with the Sims 2. However, if you are playing the game and not designing things, the best way to describe The Sims 2 is that it is like playing dolls or action figures, but with nuances, structure and rules that help keep me as an adult interested. The people in The Sims 2 have many different layers of activities that you can work on.

For a beginner it may sound overwhelming, but the game has an easy interface and helps guide you through more and more advanced concepts of the game. These are things you have to do constantly for every Sim. The needs for a Sim are hunger, comfort, bladder, energy, fun, social, hygiene and environment. These are needs that have to be met or your Sim may die. You can train your Sim to make sure needs are met for themselves and others.

Once you have mastered taking care of these, you will learn about aspirations and wants. An aspiration is what a Sim bases it’s wants on. Each Sim is given one aspiration for its lifetime. These aspirations strongly influence the play of the game. Some aspirations are family, romance, money, popularity and knowledge. A Sim has new wants every morning when they wake up. These wants are based off of their aspirations. An example would be a Sim who has an aspiration of money wakes up with a want to buy a painting, or a family oriented Sim who wants to have a child. The Sims also have lifetime wants; these are goals that they want to meet in their lifetime, and once they meet them they are happy all the time.

Sims have to work to get money. There are many jobs to choose from. Each job has certain skills you have to improve to be promoted. Sims work on these skills in various ways. Some everyday activities improve some skills, while other skills require them to read books. There are also hidden skills that do not affect job performance, but do affect how a Sim behaves. An example of this is dancing. Sims improve their ability to dance the more they do it.

It is not all about playing dolls. My husband’s favorite part of the game is building houses. The tools for house building are not CAD tools, however they are simple to use, and there is a wide variety of building options that allow him to build a wide variety of houses. Currently I play in a neighborhood completely designed by my husband and I. Houses can be uploaded and downloaded from the Sims 2 official site. Another aspect of the game is the ability to make and add custom content. Furniture, flooring, wallpaper, makeup and clothing can all be reskinned by anyone. It takes a little work and practice, but anyone can do it. There are more advanced users who make custom meshes for the game. However, there are dangers to adding custom content to the game, and one should read about the risks prior to installing custom content.

My kids love the game as well, however I should warn any parent that there is sexual innuendo. The Sims woo-hoo to create more Sims. You do not see anything but furniture bouncing and hearts popping up, but each parent needs to make their own judgment on this. My daughter who is 13 plays The Sims 2 all the time. We talk about it, and about what she is doing in the game. I have found that games like this give me an opportunity to talk about issues like sex, alcohol, drugs, ethics and morality. I find it much easier to communicate with her on her level when I look at her neighborhood, and the Sims she has been playing. It gives me a good starting point.

There are many fun little nuances in the game. Sims can be abducted by aliens. A Sim can die if they do not keep their house clean. Sims who die can come back as ghosts and haunt houses. You can confront the Grim Reaper when he is about to take a Sim from you, and you have a chance of saving them from death. If Sims do not take care of their children, a Social Worker will remove the children from the household. Sims can adopt children if they seem to be infertile. There are so many little things like this that I cannot list them all, but they do add a lot of flavor and fun to the game.

The Sims 2 is a game that I can recommend everyone try. It is a must have for any woman who likes playing computer games. I have yet to meet a female gamer who does not like The Sims 2. In fact, even women who have used a computer but not played a game previous to trying The Sims 2 still like the game, so to all you gaming men out there who want to get their significant other hooked on computer games as well, try this one. It will almost definitely work. I have met a couple men who are not as interested in it as their wives. If a parent is comfortable with the content, the game is a great gift for a teen. I will continue to play The Sims 2 for years to come. My biggest problem with the game is putting it down.