Six Exciting Ways To Play The Sims 3

The Sims 3 is an open ended sandbox style game. That is its greatest asset and also its greatest weakness. With no clearly defined end point, or goals that matter, new players can end up feeling lost once they have explored the general outline of the game.

If you're lost and looking for new things to do in The Sims 3, (before the expansion pack comes out) here are six different ways to play.

This involves creating environments your Sims will be unhappy in. You can make them mildly unhappy by locking them in lots which satisfy their basic needs but don't allow them to roam, or you can create conditions which are unbearable.

Related, but seemingly random fact:

Contrary to some people's beliefs, you can drown a sim in Sims 3. You just have to build walls around the edge of the pool once they climb inside it. Alternatively, you can just let your Sims randomly drown by providing them with a pool. Strangely enough, Sims will occasionally drown themselves for entirely no reason.

Oh, and sims like to burn themselves to death on occasion as well, case in point:

THE FIERY HOUSE OF DEATH

This is very popular with those who write Sims stories. A legacy involves creating a Sim, or a sim family, and then playing through the various generations. Interesting stories can evolve and soap opera like dramas may just keep you engaged long enough not to revert to the first method of play mentioned in this article.

The Sims 3 is so customizable that for some people, it's all about creating wonderful homes. There are some amazing player created lots out there, and many of them are available for free download on the Sims 3 official website, not to mention the many other websites dedicated to The Sims 3 out there.

For a few sites that provide awesome free Sims 3 downloads including patterns and lots, check this article out.

Pictured mansion from Sims Army

The other way to play is to push your sims to the limits. Perfect their skills, have them rise through the ranks of their careers, and allow them to live eternal lives of awesome achievement. Create endless lots of gardens, build an aquarium of a thousand fish tanks, be the Emperor of Evil, it's all up to you.

Challenges are where you set your Sims at a disadvantage and then make them work to get themselves out of it. Creating homeless Sims is a popular past time. Or you can drive yourself mad by creating, say, a mean spirited sim who also wants to be super popular. If left on free will mode, that would be nigh impossible to achieve.

For the most famous homeless sims, check out Alice and Kev

The Sims 3 is all about the cheats, and once you know they are there, it can be hard to resist using them. But playing The Sims 3 successfully without cheats can also be a rewarding experience.

If, on the other hand, you want to cheat, there's enough cheats to get you started here.