Is The Sims A Virtual Dollhouse?

When I hear dollhouse I think more about the creative aspect of The Sims. Assuming control of a sim, have them do something, then think about another sim would react, switch to that one and have them act. So when I roleplay I'm playing dollhouse style. I rarely felt the need to write down the geography, history and civic laws of my dolls and rubber cowboys as a child, though, which is a major part of my simming.

But isn't that a playstyle that came later? From how I experienced the original game game it was all about time management. Go to work, buy furniture that fills needs more efficient, have more time for skilling, get promoted, gain more money for even better furniture and to expand the house to improve routing, resulting in more time to skill... rinse, repeat.

In my mind The Sims will always be a roleplaying game in a somewhat exotic setting, because of this buy gear-level up-face harder challenges mechanic.