I play sims with the evil trait nearly half the time I play. I do really get a kick out of them getting so happy when other sims have any uncomfortable moodlets around them. When you are reigning fire down on other sims or just watching it happen on the sidelines that bwahaha means something to me. I think it's because a lot of my favorite characters in stories/books/movies are evil and no one knows it. I usually only add mean if I'm going to have them be more noticeably evil/bad. If I want someone more stereotypically or outwardly bad I give them evil, mean and hotheaded.. I don't play them as often as just evil sims but it's still fun from time to time.
I don't really use most of the other negative traits like jealous or kleptomaniac... I've tried them and klepto was pretty fun when I wanted to see how much they could steal but then I didn't really want to play with it again. Jealousy is just a pain in the bottom to me.