Why is The Sims so fascinating?

I'm a writer, too, and I get what you're saying. For me, the fascination, besides allowing me to see my characters 'come to life' on the screen, is also feeding into the whole fantasy of watching and assisting my Sim become the Rock Star, he was born to be. I played him in Sims2, but there was no singer career of any sort to even fake it. So, once ST came out in Sims3, I was very excited. He had a difficult love life, however. I decided to bring him forward into Sims4. He became my Founder when I played Pinstar's Legacy Challenge. That game is played on Normal length, which is far too short for me. Since I completed that Challenge, I wanted to play him out on LONG.

Sadly, my singer Sim's love life hasn't really improved, like I hoped. Oh, well. That's what rewrites are for, no?

Playing the game for me is also a way for me to block out the stress of everyday life. When you lose 16 people from your life to death in a short 2 1/2 year period, sometimes you need to 'get away from it all'. In this game, to a large extent, we can control what's going on. Whereas in RL, not so much. You learn to 'roll with the punches'. If I don't like my singer dying from being Hysterical, I can exit without saving and/or roll back a save to help prevent the awful moment. It's revision in real time, if you will.