Lawks! I have enough trouble looking after my hamster!
There's more. You don't have to concentrate your efforts on worthy and good causes - you can tempt your Sims to the dark side and get them started on a life of crime, if you like, and see them climb the underground ranks of do-badders, from pickpocket to criminal mastermind.

What about making my own Sims?
You can do that too. The game provides you with a whole host of pre-determined Sims, but you can create your own by spending character points on specific areas of a Sim's personality. Naturally, there's a trade-off to be aware of - make a Sim a wonderful cook or whatever and he/she/it could well end up being extremely bad-tempered, which will affect other areas of his/her/its life.

Presumably The Sims is 'open-ended'.
It certainly is. There's no winning or losing this game, but the developers have added the Sim City favourite 'Disasters' option, whereby you can spice up a dreary week with some timely life-changing misfortunes.

Nice!
It'll be a giggle, we reckon.

Do say...
Here's a nice new widescreen TV for you.

Don't say...
You're only a set of instructions - why do you want to work in a bank?