Interesting questions. I get where you're coming from; the 'fantasy' versus 'reality', although I agree that it does seem like simmers like myself who aren't bothered by some of the 'shortcuts' you mentioned are being lumped in with occult players.
To be honest, I don't care that the sims don't travel to a building and disappear off the lot. I'm an imaginative person, I always have been. For me, when my sims travel from Windenburg to Oasis Springs, I decide for myself 'how' they got there. An example for you:
I have a sim travel from San Myshuno to Magnolia Promenade for a spot of shopping. They're buying some toys for their nephew's upcoming birthday, then stop off to have coffee with their sister. I then imagine for myself that the sim gets the tram to Willow Creek (because the trams run in both), then gets the train back to San Myshuno (since trains run in both). Now, the reason I like to imagine this is because if this actually was in game, I'd fast forward the travel. I know I would, because I do it all the time in Sims 3 when they travel in the car :D For me, the travelling in vehicles is boring because it's wasting their time, in my game. So a loading screen allows me to imagine they've travelled by the methods mentioned.
Similarly, I recently had an author, living in San Myshuno, get nominated for a Starlight Accolade. When the time came to travel to Del Sol Valley for the awards ceremony, I imagined he took the train to the airport (since you see planes fly over the city, it's reasonable to assume there would be one), then imagine he got a plane to Del Sol Valley (if you're in the cheaper neighbourhood, you can watch the planes at a nearby airport. I actually only discovered this last week and spent nearly ten minutes freaking mesmerised by them :D ). Once again, if this sort of travel was in the game, I'd get bored. It'd be a waste of my time, my Sim's time and ultimately, game resources too. It just wouldn't be fun for me.
Okay, that covered travel. I know that doesn't scratch the surface of your inquiry but I hope I can answer some of the others tomorrow, when I have some more time.
To cut this short for now though, I class myself as a semi-realistic player. I recently bought Vampires and Strangerville because I want to include some paranormal/supernatural researchers in my game (an idea my aunt had, actually, in her own game) and those two packs have exactly what I was looking for. Previous to this, I rarely played supernaturals, although I'm now enjoying the challenge of having them present in my game but not every household (I play rotationally, so this works perfectly for me). I like elements of realism in the game but not mind-numbing reality. If they had to mow the lawns, I'd be out the door :D I generally go for more realistic than occult but I don't mind some fantasy elements.
I hope that answers at least one question. They're interesting questions though and I hope to cover some more tomorrow <3
