Sims 2 is complicated
Unrelated to almost anything I’ve written, I just thought I’d suggest anyone remotely interested in god-games to buy Sims 2 now. It has managed the same thing as the Grand Theft Auto series. There is a reasonably structured game in there now to guide you in your actions, but the game is still wide open if you want to do something else entirely.
Most of this structure revolves around the new wants and desires your sims have. They’re tasks or events that reward or penalise you and are decided by your Sim’s aspiration. The funniest is the “romance” aspiration which has wants such as “Have 2 loves at once” or “Make out with 3 different Sims”…