i mostly just play with one family. in my mind i have a story going. i love and care for my two sims so much lol. they have a good mental story going on. i also have tons of mods to make it interesting. from the well known nraas story progression to the taxi cab mod, i have a lot of them. makes it feel realistic. like they mention above, you have to care about your sim for your game to matter. you know you care about your sims when one of them dies from an accident and your "whole life" is over lol!