I'm not sure that RPG is a good comparison point. There's a quote from Will Wright about putting players in the director's seat - in the Sims, you're George Lucas, not Luke Skywalker. That's what makes it different from every other simulation game. I tend to think of my Sims as half electronic pets and half dollhouse. I feed & water them and try to keep them happy while they play out the stories I make for them. I like to play families, but I'm not playing the parent as myself - I think of myself as the 'uber-parent'. And if I have a Sim work on an aspiration or skill, it's not so much an achievement for me as a way to get a new ability or reward trait for my Sim.
