Characters / The Sims

Main Character Index > The Sims

In this list you will find all the families that were introduced with the original Sims, released in 2000.

• Click here for families first appearing in The Sims 2.
• Click here for families first appearing in The Sims 3.
• Click here for families first appearing in The Sims 4.

Neighborhood 1

The starting neighborhood of the entire game, and the most recognizable among them, original Neighborhood 1 was a small suburban town with a single square of road lined with houses. It was expanded and made bigger with the addition of Old Town in The Sims: Unleashed.

The Goth Family

Franchise Mascots

Prominent Family Members: Mortimer Goth, Bella Goth (née Bachelor), Cassandra Goth, Alexander Goth, Cornelia Goth, Gunther Goth

Appearances: The Sims | The Sims (console) | The Sims 2 | The Sims 2 (GBA) | The Sims 3 | The Sims 4

Perhaps the most famous family known to the Sims, this three-Sim family is known as the most well off of all of the Sims in the initial game. Throughout the years, the Goth family has risen in popularity among fans of the franchise, appearing in every main series game and almost every Spin-off game, to the point where they are considered the definitive mascots of the game, and the most recognizable faces of the franchise to boot.

In every game they have appeared in thus far, the Goths have always been depicted as affluent old money (with possible occult connections) that has influenced or otherwise had a hand in the founding of the towns and neighborhoods they live in: In The Sims, Gunther and Cornelia founded Old Town, in The Sims 3, they are said to have founded Sunset Valley. Each game also emphasizes the mysterious, cerebral nature of the Goth family as a whole - Bella is usually associated with the occult, Mortimer is a genius savant in the original and 2, and Cassandra is portrayed as a mysterious, quiet type.

General Tropes applying in all games:

• Creepy Cemetery: Nearly each iteration of the Goths sans The Sims 4 one has some form of creepy cemetery in their backyard.
• Germanic Depressives: Their surname implies German ancestry and they enjoy a dark and Gothic aesthetic, but they're actually rather upbeat for the most part. This is averted in 3, however, which depicts Mortimer to be a rather grumpy young boy with very closed-off and private parents.
• Goth: Of course.
• Iconic Outfit: Bella's red dress, which is present in almost every game. Her child version in 3 wears a more age-appropriate and modest version.
• Meaningful Name: They're the Goths, they usually live in large, gloomy houses, and they're always depicted as dressing the part with an added mysterious charm to them.
• Ambiguously Brown: Bella and Cassandra. Less so in 4.
• Series Mascot: Out of all the sims that have come out, it's Bella who stands out as the face of the franchise.

Tropes applying in The Sims:

Charming and mysterious.

• Actually Not a Vampire: Mortimer, who is basically an expy of Gomez Addams, has very pale skin and hates garlic.

• Expy: Of the Addams family.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: All the ghosts in 1 are random nameless family members, and the family itself lives in a rather small house, with only a modest amount of money.
• Only Six Faces: Due to the limited number of heads and outfits included in the base game, several of the relatives buried on the lot use the same faces and outfits as other pre-made sims.
• Perky Goth: Mortimer is actually very cheerful, and Bella is an avid fan of miniature golf.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: If free will is on, Cassandra will spend a worrying amount of time mourning the tombstones.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance ^note All the ghosts in the manor are presumably part of the Goth family, but since the tombstones are not marked with last names, their relation to the Goths isn't explicitly stated (aside from some of the ghosts having names like "Auntie" and "Grandpa"); if for some reason Bratty was not related to the Goths, she would be an Identical Stranger to Cassandra instead: One of the ghosts that haunts the manor, "Bratty", looks exactly like Cassandra.
  • Another ghost child called Boy also haunts the lot, and he bears a striking resemblance to both Cassandra and Bratty, as well as the unborn Alexander Goth.
• Waistcoat of Style: Mortimer's everyday outfit.

Tropes applying in The Sims 2:

"Cassandra is ready to start a family of her own, but can she tame the town Casanova? And can Mortimer bounce back after the disappearance of his wife Bella?"

In The Sims 2, Mortimer and Bella have welcomed another child, Alexander, while Cassandra has grown up into a beautiful woman who's already engaged. But recently, Bella has mysteriously disappeared in an alien abduction, while Mortimer finds himself being seduced by a Gold Digger.

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• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Cassandra certainly fits the bill.
• Continuity Nod: In the original The Sims, among the ghosts that haunted the Goth manor were two children. One of them was a girl named "Bratty" who looked exactly like Cassandra, and the other was a nerdy looking boy who was simply named "Boy". Neither of the ghosts haunt the Goth manor in The Sims 2, but Alexander does bear a very close resemblance to Boy.
• Child Prodigy: Alexander's favourite hobbies are optometry and number theory!
• Girlish Pigtails: Cassandra retains them even through her adulthood.
• Gold Digger: Bella in the PSP version.
• LEGO Genetics: Alexander does not resemble either of his parents at all and instead looks like the townie Goopy.
• May–December Romance: Mortimer is older much than his current romantic interest Dina, who is younger than his own daughter. If Bella is brought back and get back together, Bella and Mortimer technically fits the bill.
• Meal Ticket: Mortimer is this for his much, much younger paramour Dina, who's explicitly after his own money.
• Missing Mom: Bella. The story mentions that she's supposed to be in Strangetown; though she does appear there as a non-playable character, she's probably not the same Bella.
  • Another copy of Bella does exist within Pleasantview's files. However, she has a token on her that marks her as dead, and if she is simply summoned to a lot, she'll eventually turn into a ghost and vanish away.
• Older Than They Look: Bella is technically in the Adult life stage, but her memories and Mortimer's show that they were childhood friends, meaning that she actually must have lived through enough days to make her an Elder like him. Presumably she had access to better Elixir of Life than he did.
• Only Six Faces: Alexander looks nothing like the rest of his family, but looks exactly like the townie Goopy GilsCarbo.
• Runaway Groom: Even though the pop-ups at the Goth house encourage the player to marry Cassandra and Don quickly, chances are very high that Don will leave her at the altar if their relationship scores aren't quite high enough, which will almost certainly plunge Cassandra into aspiration failure. Some players report that Cassandra can also pull this on Don if he's the one to initiate the marriage interaction.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: Cassandra looks almost exactly like her grandmother Cornelia when it comes to facial structure and their choice of glasses.
  • Facially, she's even more similar to her other grandmother, Bella's mother Jocasta. Their faces and skin tones are near identical.
  • While Alexander is well known for not looking like either of his parents, he does bear more than a passing resemblance to his great-grandfather Simon.
• Uncle Pennybags: Mortimer is ludicrously rich and pretty easy to get along with.

Tropes applying in The Sims 3:

"The Goths have lived in town since time immemorial. The aura of gloom from the nearby cemetery suits them, but can a young boy named Mortimer grow up to be well-adjusted in such a place?"

Mortimer Goth appears here as a child, living with his middle-aged parents, Gunther and Cornelia, and a whole lot of ghosts.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: Gunther and Cornelia. Understandable, since before 3 they were either elderly, or dead and elderly.
• Continuity Snarl: Gunther and Cornelia are way older here, than originally thought, barely a week away from becoming elders. For reference, in The Sims 1, twenty-five years later they only appeared somewhat elderly, and if memories in The Sims 2 are to be believed, they lived pretty much until right before the start of the game, a full fifty years later.
  • Also, the previous games mentioned they came from the "Old Country", recently enough that Mortimer was born there. Here it's stated that they founded Sunset Valley, a pretty decently sized town, which, in order to line up with the previous games would mean they did that in only a few in-game days (Children age up way faster).
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Gunther's sister Frida is nowhere to be found this time around.
  • Averted, however when Frida reappears with her uncle Samuel in Moonlight Falls from The Sims 3: Supernatural.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Mortimer and Bella Bachelor are best friends in-game. Canonically, they get married in adulthood.
• Cute Ghost Girl: Lolita Goth, who's buried in the graveyard at the back of the house. Unlike the other ghosts in the house, who are all parents and grandparents of Gunther and Cornelia, her exact connection to the family is unclear. She's also a young adult, while all the other ghosts are elders, and is indeed very cute-looking. Fanon often regards her as Gunther's first wife and The Lost Lenore, which might in turn account for his poor relationship with his wife (see below).
• Generation Xerox: It's shown that Mortimer, just like his son Alexander was born to old, already well-established parents.
• Goths Have It Hard: Puns aside, they all seem to have the Grumpy trait, which puts them in a consistently foul mood, even with the massive fortune and the huge mansion
• Dead Sparks: Gunther and Cornelia are married and have a high enough relationship to count as friends, but aren't close enough to WooHoo or even engage in some lower-scoring romantic interactions, and it will take some time for the player to raise their relationship score high enough. (This isn't helped one bit by Cornelia's Unflirty trait, which basically makes it extremely difficult to get her into any kind of romantic STC.) They even appear to have separate bedrooms.
• Guyliner: For Gunther, though it's understandable why he has it considering his gothic hair and clothes.
• Older Than They Look: Gunther and Cornelia are middle-aged yet looks like twenty-years old when it comes to their faces.
• Perky Goth: Though at a lower level. Gunther, Mortimer and Cornelia are all friendly but also gloomy and a bit grumpy.
• Spin-Off Babies: Mortimer, one of the most popular characters in the series, appeared as a grown man with a wife and child in The Sims and an elderly widower in The Sims 2. In this prequel, he's an elementary school kid, alongside his future wife and a few of their adulthood acquaintances.

Tropes applying in The Sims 4:

"The Goths are an aristocratic family with a dreary aura. Between Mortimer writing macabre stories and Bella's mysterious disappearances will Cassandra and Alexander grow up to be gloomy, too?"

• Adaptation Personality Change: Mortimer's much more of a creative type here, instead of a scientist or a businessman like in previous games.
• Adaptational Ugliness: While not hideous by any stretch, Mortimer's definitely not as good looking as his adult self looked in previous games, not to mention his forehead wrinkles make him look a fair bit older as well.
  • Cassandra's definitely more "cute" this time round, with a far rounder, younger-looking face than in 2.
• Absurdly Youthful Mother: Bella is aged down in the alternate universe from the same age as her husband (who is an Adult, in this case; The Sims 3 establishes they were at school together in the original universe) to being much younger. The result of having Bella start out on the first day of the young adult life stage is that there's no room in her new timeline for any pregnancies, let alone for her to be the mother of a teenager.
  • Notably, while other games have implicitly assumed that Bella is simply Older Than They Look to keep her age in line with Mortimer's, and that she's possibly been using more age reversing rewards than he has, there's no indication that this is the case in The Sims 4. Indeed, the decision to age her down despite the lack of cosmetic differences between Young Adults and Adults in this version seems to indicate it was an active decision to have Mortimer and Bella involved in a May–December Romance in this incarnation, though it's not really explored in the family bio as might be expected.
• Age Lift:
  • Bella has been aged down from an Adult who's the same age as her husband to a Young Adult who's obviously his junior. It could be a reference to how, in The Sims 2, Bella stopped aging after she went missing.
  • Both Cassandra and Alexander, in relation to their parents and each other from the original timeline. While in The Sims 2 Cassandra was in her late teens when Alexander was born, here they're much closer in age, as he's in Grade School while she's in High School. This means that Alexander was born much earlier in this continuity. The same may be true for Cassandra herself, since in The Sims she was a child rather than a teen, and would have to have been born much earlier if the fan theory that The Sims and The Sims 4 take place at around the same time in their respective universes is correct.
• Composite Character: Since this iteration takes place in an alternate timeline, it appears the developers took full advantage of this, having a young Cassandra, and adult-aged (plus more recognizable) Mortimer and Bella from the original Sims as well as Alexander from The Sims 2
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: For the first time ever, the Goths don't have a family graveyard, and no mention of either Bella or Mortimer's extended family is made either.
• Emo Teen: Cassandra. Aside from the patently obvious, she's also the only member of the family with the Gloomy trait.
• Fair Cop: This continuity's version of Bella is employed in the Secret Agent career, which was intended as a substitute for the Law Enforcement career from previous games (at least, until the Detective career was added in the first expansion pack). And she's beautiful, of course.
• LEGO Genetics: Cassandra could reasonably pass as being Mortimer and Bella's child, but Alexander (once he grows up) looks very, very little like either his parents or sister.
• Legacy Character: Though The Sims 4 is an Alternate Universe apart from the first three games, the inclusion of the Goth family (as represented by Mortimer, Bella, Cassandra, and Alexander) was such a popular fan demand that EA/Maxis apparently didn't dare release the game without them.
• May–December Romance: Unlike the original incarnations of Mortimer and Bella, who were childhood friends, Bella is significantly younger than Mortimer in this version: she's a Young Adult, he's an Adult, making them about three weeks apart in age (which is a fairly big difference, considering Sims only have about a sixteen week life span; mathematically, the real-world equivalent would be about fifteen years, though Sims life stages don't progress naturally enough to reflect that). Notable in that they're the only couple in this version of the game whose romantic partner is outside of their own life stage.
• Ms. Fanservice: Definitely Bella.
• Mythology Gag: The family bio mentions Bella's mysterious disappearances, a nod to her story in 2 where she had vanished. In this case, it's implied to be related to her secret agent career, rather than the alien abduction in her previous iteration.
• Perky Goth: Both Bella and Mortimer are cheerful, outgoing people, though Cassandra's fairly dour, and since Alexander's a child it's up to the player wether he becomes this.
• Race Lift: In a very controversial move, both Bella and especially Cassandra were lighter skinned at launch. An update would change their default appearances to make them closer to their original appearances.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Mortimer's not really ugly, but compared to Bella he's not much to look at, not to mention him being a lot older than her this time round.

The Newbie Family

New in Town

Prominent Family Members: Bob Newbie, Betty Newbie (née Simovitch), Robert Newbie Sr., Mags Newbie

Appearances: The Sims | The Sims 2 (console) | The Sims 2 Pets (console) | The Sims 3 | The Sims 4

A married couple used in the original game's tutorial, the Newbies are perhaps the most well-known characters from the first game, second only to the Goths. They don't make an appearance in 2, only leaving behind a daughter, Brandi, but they reappear in The Sims 3 in the free DLC neighborhood Riverview and as a free DLC family in The Sims 4.

General Tropes applying in all games:

• Alliterative Family: Bob and Betty, who also have a daughter named Brandi in 2, and a dog named Buddy in one of the spin-offs.
• Bag of Spilling: The Sims 3 reveals that Betty was a talented musician in her teens, while the console spin-offs of the first game also portray her as a talented athlete when she was single. Clearly, marrying Bob didn't exactly help improve her life much.
• The Everyman: They're pretty normal.

Tropes applying in The Sims:

• Dead Sparks: Bob and Betty are not in love at the start of the game. However their relationship gets better between games as they eventually had a daughter.
• Odd Couple: Slovenly, greasy Bob paired with the well put-together Betty.
• Smarter Than You Look: Bob may look grungy and filthy, but he's actually quite the bookworm.

Tropes applying in The Sims 2:

The Newbies are not present in The Sims 2, having since passed on, but their descendants the Brokes can be found living in Pleasantview. For more information, see the TS2: Pleasantview character page.

Tropes applying in The Sims 3:

"They may be new in town, but they feel like they've found the place they were destined to live. Will their son stay and make his life in Riverview? Or will he find somewhere more... pleasant?"

Legacy Character Bob Newbie and his parents, Robert "Bob" Sr. and Mags appear in The Sims 3 living in the free DLC neighborhood Riverview.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: Both Bob, who is most famous for being a bald overweight guy in greasy clothing, and his father Robert are fairly attractive in this game.
• High-School Sweethearts: It's revealed that Bob and Betty Simovitch were this, first meeting in high school shortly after Bob's family moved to town.
• Romantic False Lead: Promotional videos for the Riverview download showed Bob making out with another girl while Betty looked on and cried quietly. Since canonically they end up getting married, the other girl is generally regarded to be this trope for Bob.^note Fanon often regards her as MaryKay Shallow, who looks a little like the other girl.
• Bookworm: Bob is implied to be one.
• Jock Dad, Nerd Son: While Robert isn't a jock and Bob isn't overly nerdy, it is stated that Robert wishes for Bob to join him in fishing instead of spending all his time inside, reading.

Tropes applying in The Sims 4:

• Canon Immigrant: The dog Buddy, who appears in this version of the family.
• Composite Character: Even stated on the family description. This Bob and Betty are a mix of several PC and console versions of them. Phisically, they mostly resemble their PS2-port version of The Sims 1; in terms of personality, Betty has traits from her console persona (active) and her TS3 version (artistic), while Bob gets some from his TS3 version (lazy, bookworm). Both wear the clothes they wore on TS1for console, but Betty has on her wardrobe other resembling the PC version and her TS3 attire, just as Bob. And of course, they're accompanied by their dog Bobby, from the TS2: Pets port for the PS2.

The Pleasant Family

Your Average Suburban Family

Prominent Family Members: Jeff Pleasant, Diane Pleasant, Daniel Pleasant, Jennifer Burb (née Pleasant), Angela Pleasant, Lilith Pleasant

Appearances: The Sims | The Sims (console) | The Sims 2 | The Sims 3 | The Sims 4

Married couple Jeff and Diane Pleasant and their children, Daniel and Jennifer. Jeff and Diane are new to town and settling in the original game, while in 2, their children are grown with offspring of their own. Throughout the franchise, they are depicted as the stereotypical middle-class family living the ideal suburban life, though The Sims 2 puts a new spin on this by revealing that a now-Adult Daniel's life with Mary-Sue is nothing more but a façade to keep up appearances while he cheats on her with the household maid.

In The Sims 3, Daniel returns to the franchise with his new bride Mary-Sue in Sunlit Tides, whilst his sister Jennifer shows up in Dragon Valley with her new fiancé John. In 4, players can download a Maxis recreation of the Pleasants in the gallery, though twins Angela and Lilith eventually show up as grown adults at Britechester University.

General Tropes applying in all games:

• Ambiguously Brown: Diane and Jennifer.
• The Generic Guy: They start out as the most vanilla and stereotypical middle-class family in the franchise before slipping into Dysfunctional Family in later games.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Angela and Lilith, respectively. They retain this dynamic in all their franchise appearances.
• The Perfectionist: It's implied Angela is this. Her mother is outright stated to be one as well, with Mary-Sue even having the Perfectionist trait in 4.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Angela and Lilith:
  • In 2, Angela dresses in bright, preppy colours, has a bedroom covered in pink and is generally described as a nice, pleasant girl, while Lilith dresses in dark, brooding colours, acts a little surlier than her sister, and has already had run-ins with the law. As an added bonus, each family photo showing the twins has Lilith literally in the shadows or background, with Angela shown in the light and the foreground.
  • In 4, Angela has a more chic and mature wardrobe while Lilith leans heavily into alternative fashion with piercings and dark eyeshadow. Additionally, Angela is a neat goody two-shoes studying art history at Britechester while Lilith is a sloppy rebel studying villainy at Foxbury Institute.
• Rebellious Spirit: Lilith in all iterations. In 2, it's heavily implied, if not outright stated, that her terrible upbringing was a factor in this, while in 4 she's studying Villainy.

Tropes applying in The Sims:

• Older Than They Look: While Daniel is the same age as Jennifer due to the limited aging mechanics, The Sims 2 revealed that he would at least have been a teenager in-continuity.
• Passionate Sports Girl: Jennifer is an avid sports fan and wants to succeed in soccer.

Tropes applying in The Sims 2:

"On the surface, Daniel and Mary-Sue Pleasant seem to have the perfect life, but is their love a flimsy façade? And can Angela and Lilith make the right choices when it comes to love?"

Jeff and Diane have long since passed away, but their children Daniel and Jennifer have both married and now have children of their own, though in Daniel's case, not without its own fair share of problems. His wife Mary-Sue has begun to neglect him in favor of her own career aspirations, and his twin daughters are constantly fighting each other with no end in sight.

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• Abusive Parents: It's very easy for Daniel and Mary-Sue to slip into this if left alone with Lilith; their relationship scores start low enough for them to slap and poke her, or for her to slap and poke them. The real issue comes from if she's being targeted by more than one person, as without player intervention her queue can be so flooded with attack attempts that she won't get a chance to either initiate her own attack or escape from the room.
• Ambiguously Brown: Daniel's mother and sister are both medium-skinned, while Daniel himself is rather tanned.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Angela's in a relationship with Dustin Broke, a criminal. No wonder Daniel hates him so much.
• Apathetic Student: Lilith starts out like this as a D- student with no interest in school, and may or may not express fears of going to school if her grades don't improve. What keeps her from sliding into Book Dumb is that she's not described to be any more or less intelligent than anyone else, and she still has time to turn her grades around if the player makes an effort to do so.
• Awful Wedded Life: Daniel clearly regrets marrying Mary-Sue, and Mary-Sue herself is distant to him as a result of being a workaholic. One family album picture shows them arguing with each other in the background. You can even take it further by letting Mary-Sue catch Daniel cheating, causing them to outright despise each other.
• Beneath the Mask: There's a whole lotta ugly to be seen underneath Mary-Sue and Daniel's "perfect life" if one looks closely enough.
• Black Sheep: Lilith. It even shows in the loading screen, where her default expression is scowling while faced away from the rest of her family. Justified in that it's implied she's a victim of Parental Favoritism who's been cast aside in favour of her older twin sister, hence why she may feel the need to differentiate from the rest of her 'perfect' family.
• Broken Ace: Daniel. He's successful in his career, one of his daughters is an overachiever and he lives in one of the nicest houses in Pleasantview, but it's quite clear that even beyond him cheating on his wife, he never really wanted the family life.
• Born Lucky / Born Unlucky: Angela and Lilith fall under one of both tropes - Angela was born lucky, growing up with both of her parents' love and attention, while Lilith was born unlucky and neglected in favor of her older twin. It's not exactly clear why Mary-Sue and Daniel prefer Angela over Lilith, but one of the more popular fanon theories is that they both initially planned for and expected to have one child - an album picture after the twins' birth notably shows a surprised doctor, implying that he had expected only one child.
• Cheating with the Milkman: Gender-inverted example for Daniel. He's cheating on Mary-Sue with the maid, Kaylynn.
• Continuity Snarl: Because of the limited aging in The Sims Daniel's age is retconned, while here he's middle-aged, because of how that game handled ages he, like every other Child went to grade school, when chronologically he would've been a teenager, or even a grown adult.
• Delinquent: Lilith's memories show that she at one point snuck out with Dirk and wound up getting arrested by the police. Strangely enough, the "Got Busted" memory itself shows a picture of a burglar, Gordon King, implying that she may have joined him on a crime spree and got caught that way.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Unlike Angela, Lilith has bad memories of growing up. Photos in the family album show her lurking in the shadows and completely ignored by the rest of her family.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: Dustin and Daniel start off as enemies. This is however averted with Dirk Dreamer, Lilith's boyfriend, as Daniel has not shown any visible disapproval of him.
• Dead Sparks: Mary-Sue and Daniel are distant to each other. Their relationship panel shows that they're not even in love anymore.
• Dysfunctional Family: And how! A workaholic mother who pays no attention to her daughters' squabbling while her husband has an affair with the maid because she's too busy with her job.
• Formerly Fit: Daniel works in the Athletic career, and has almost maxed out his Body skill at the start of the game, but it appears, in his middle age that he's somewhat let himself go, since he's close to becoming fat.
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Angela and Lilith have this dynamic, being enemies with each other at the start of the game. When the family is first played (assuming free will is on), Angela often initiates the slapping and shoving against her sister. Whether this continues into their adulthood or if they patch things up is up to the player.
• Good Is Not Nice: Angela is described as "patient" and "dutiful", but she's not above slapping or shoving her younger twin around and phoning her boyfriend (Thus breaking house rules) in the middle of the night to ask him if he wants to sneak out.
• Goth: Lilith's fashion and make-up preferences lean this way.
• Goth Girls Know Magic: Downplayed. While not magical herself, Lilith's interest in the paranormal starts maxed out, indicating that she enjoys the occult and other weird stuff. As a bonus, if you have Apartment Life installed, you can literally invoke this trope by turning her into an actual witch!
• Goths Have It Hard: Lilith. While she may dress in some heavy Punk Rock/Goth inspired clothing she's not shown to be outright malicious and has just had it rougher than her sister, owing to Parental Neglect.
  • When one looks at Lilith's memories and her aspiration meter at the start of the game (it's in the red), it's easy to infer that she's generally had a terrible childhood and feels unfulfilled and miserable with her life so far. You as the player can choose whether to help her or make her life even worse.
• Happily Adopted: Mary-Sue was adopted as a toddler by the Oldies.
• Happy Marriage Charade: It's implied from the family description that Daniel and Mary-Sue pretend to be a happy couple despite their marital problems.
• Humans Are Good: Mary-Sue's biography says that she explicitly believes in this. Which makes the potential fallout of Daniel's affair with the maid all the more tragic.
• Ironic Name: They're the Pleasants, and yet they're nowhere near as pleasant as you'd expect, given that it's a family comprised of a neglectful, workaholic mother, a cheating father, and their two squabbling twin daughters, one of who has been heavily overlooked in favor of her older twin sister.
• LEGO Genetics: Lilith and Angela don't resemble their father at all, outside of eye and hair color. Even more jarring is the fact that despite being half-asian they didn't inherit any of their mother's features either.
• Married to the Job: Mary-Sue is so focused on her job that she's oblivious to the fact that her husband is having an affair with the housemaid and that her daughters are trying to rip each other's throats out.
• Meaningful Name: Lilith is the name of a demon in the bible, whereas Angela is, quite obviously, a rendition of the word "Angel". Mary-Sue speaks for itself, really.
• Morton's Fork: The first time you play the Pleasants, Mary-Sue will get a chance card at work - a small Visual Novel-esque choice box that will either end in success or failure. This isn't too bad in itself, except for the fact that her chance card has been programmed to fail no matter what choice you make. Unless you hit ignore, of course.
  • To be more specific, Mary-Sue is chewed out for either being too overambitious working on a stack of paperwork or being too careless with it. In one outcome, she's demoted back to phone-banking, in the other, she's fired for somehow managing to replace a legislator's entire speech with the first two acts of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. Even the game thinks this is silly.
• Non-Specifically Foreign: Mary-Sue has very obvious eastern features, but there's no mention of where she's from and how she came to be adopted by two Caucasian parents.
• Opposites Attract:
  • Goody two-shoes Angela is dating delinquent Dustin Broke and Lilith is dating mild-mannered Dirk Dreamer.
  • Then we have romance Sim Daniel, engaged in an affair with the shy, sweet, and family-oriented Kaylynn. Given their extremely contradictory aspirations, it's inevitable that whatever relationship they'll have will end up dysfunctional as well; Daniel will roll wants to have more lovers eventually.
• Parental Neglect: When looking at everyone's memories, it becomes obvious that Angela was favoured over Lilith in their childhood, as Lilith has no memories of being taught to walk and talk, and potty trained. Lilith has also grown up badly from each life-stage to the next, while Angela has good memories of growing up. A photo in the family album shows Mary-Sue and Daniel celebrating Angela's birthday as a child whilst Lilith is left alone one room over.
• Plot-Inciting Infidelity: The potential discovery of Daniel's infidelity basically sets up the entire Pleasant family's "perfect life" to crumble and fall apart, exposing the ugly truth underneath.
• Punny Name: Daniel's grandparents are named Les and Kynda Pleasant.
• The Runaway: Lilith has the potential to become this if you don't mend her strained relationship with her parents - Her relationship with them is so bad that one single insult or fight interaction will cause her to pack up and get out of the house.
• Sibling Rivalry: The relationship between Angela and Lilith is so bad that they're marked as enemies. They also start out standing right next to each other when their house is first loaded, meaning that chances are very high one sister will immediately slap or poke the other.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Despite coming off as a stereotypical Bad Girl, Lilith appears to be in a relatively stable relationship with Dirk Dreamer, who is more of a Nice Guy than anything else. Ironically, if you compare their relationship with the likes of Dustin and Angela's, it's clear that Lilith and Dirk's relationship is the more stable and mature of the two twins, since they've already had their first kiss.
• Smitten Teenage Girl: The first time you play as Angela, she has a want to have her First Kiss with Dustin. Contrast Lilith, who already has memories of kissing and even making out with Dirk (as well as sneaking out with him and getting caught), which gives Lilith at least one field in where she's better than her sister - romance.
• Stepford Smiler: Daniel and Mary Sue are said to be this. Daniel hides an affair from his wife, regrets his marriage to her, and feels tremendous guilt over his dad's broken dreams. Mary-Sue is obsessed with her job and completely oblivious to her husband's infidelity. The family description explicitly calls out that their love might be nothing more but a 'flimsy façade', and judging by the fact that their relationship status doesn't even go past 'best friends', this assumption has merit.
• Trauma Conga Line: Mary-Sue is ultimately set up to experience this if the player follows all of the game's prompts about Daniel's cheating and her chance card choices. First, she's either demoted or fired from her job. Second, if Daniel has the maid on the lot, she'll most likely catch them both in the act and get plunged into aspiration failure, as one of her fears at the start of the game is catching Daniel cheating on her. She may even experience a third traumatizing event in the form of Lilith running away depending on how the rest of the household treats her.
• Troubled, but Cute: Lilith looks cute without the Goth make-up, in the same vein as Dustin Broke.
• The Un-Favourite: Lilith. She's going to have some serious issues in her adulthood if the player doesn't improve her current situation. Everyone in the household dislikes her and her failing grades are enough to keep her from attending college (with University) or getting a job.
• Visual Pun: When looking at the Pleasant family's photo album, Lilith is often deliberately pictured in the shadows, while Angela is shown in the light in contrast, showing how they're the Black Sheep and the favourite of the family, respectively.

Tropes applying in The Sims 3:

In this iteration of the Pleasants, Daniel and Mary-Sue appear as young and happy newlyweds on their honeymoon, years before the brewing marital and familial problems that had come to define their story in 2.

Tropes applying in The Sims 4:

The Bachelor Family

Prominent Family Members: Michael Bachelor, Simis Bachelor, Jocasta Bachelor

Appearances: The Sims | The Sims 3

The Bachelor family starts out as a single bachelor, Michael Bachelor, designed for players to get into the game without worry about silly nuances like roommates. With The Sims 2, it is eventually revealed that Bella Goth was actually Michael's younger sister, and that Michael himself had married resident Gold Digger Dina Caliente before passing away of old age. In The Sims 3, players can find the Bachelors living in Sunset Valley, with Bella and Michael living together with their parents Jocasta and Simis.

Tropes applying in The Sims:

• Ambiguously Brown: He uses the medium skin tone and has vaguely Asian-seeming facial features. However, his familial connection to Bella Goth (revealed in the sequel) makes it more difficult to ascertain his ethnicity, since Bella is his sister and a purer example of this trope.
• Older Than They Look: Michael was revealed to be the older brother to Bella Goth and is a teenager in The Sims 3, which takes place several years before, possibly making him in his forties or fifties.
• Expy: Of the Graduate.

Tropes applying in The Sims 3:

The Roomies family

Prominent Family Members: Chris Roomies, Melissa Roomies

Appearances: The Sims

Chris and Melissa are two young women sharing a house.

• Ambiguously Gay/Heterosexual Life-Partners: Due to limitations in the game engine, they're treated as spouses for some purposes despite not being romantically involved.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The only characters from the original game that have yet to make an appearence in any other.
• Ms. Fanservice: The Prima Official Game Guide implies that they were included so that male players could have a starting family they'd like the look of.
• No Last Name Given: Since TS1 doesn't allow for individual surnames within a household, their surname is actually "Roomies". The console spin-off, which does allow separate last names, reveals their surnames to be Jones and Smith.

Neighborhood 2

A neighborhood that came with the Livin' Large expansion pack. It is identical to Neighborhood 1, except the lots are different and there's only one family.

The Mashuga family

Priminent Family Members: Frankie Mashuga, Sylvia Marie Mashuga

Appearances: The Sims

Frankie and Sylvia Marie are a married couple living in a very unique house.

• Ambiguously Jewish: Their surname is a Yiddish vocabulary word rather than a Jewish name, but still.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Similarly to the Roomies case above, their only appearence was in the Livin' Large expansion pack.
• Meaningful Name: Their surname is Yiddish for "crazy" and they live in a bright pink octagonal house, sleep in a vibrating heart-shaped bed, have a safari-themed animal print living room and a life-sized statue of a naked man in their bathroom.
• Sickening Sweethearts: If the decor of their house (particularly the bedroom) is anything to go by. They also have a fairly high starting relationship, which could be an attempt to nudge the player in this direction.

Old Town

A much expanded neighborhood that was added in the Unleashed expansion pack. The original neighborhood is now in the top right corner, and there is now a whole town of lots for the player to build on.

The Burb Family

Prominent Family Members: Brad Burb, Tiffany Burb, Johnny/John Burb, Tucker Burb, Lucy Burb

Appearances: The Sims | The Sims 2 | The Sims 3

The Burbs are first introduced in The Sims: Unleashed. Initially, the family consists of a down-to-earth farmer, his fashionable wife, their young son, and his dog, but grows in The Sims 2 with John's subsequent marriage to Jennifer Pleasant and the birth of their daughter Lucy. In The Sims 3, John and Jennifer can be found as an engaged couple in the DLC town Dragon Valley.

Tropes applying in The Sims:

• A Boy and His X: Johnny and Tucker are a classic, wholesome, 1950s-stereotype example of the "a boy and his dog" trope.
• Call to Agriculture: The men of the Burb family definitely have some trace of this. Brad has moved his family from the city to the suburbs so that he can become a full-time gardener, an ambition later shared by his son in the sequel.
• Generation Xerox: Prior to the game, Brad convinces Tiffany to move from the city to the suburbs so that he can have a garden, and she agrees despite her reservations. In The Sims 2, the exact same scenario plays out between their now-adult son John and his wife, Jennifer.
• Meaningful Name: It's a contraction of "suburb", where the men of the family prefer to live.

Tropes applying in The Sims 2:

"John, Jennifer and young Lucy have decided to trade the fast-paced city life for some fresh air, and hope to make a nice home here in Pleasantview."

While her brother Daniel struggled with his guilt over their father's failed dreams and his own crumbling marriage, Jennifer married John Burb and settled into a fast-paced city life. The Burbs have moved back into the suburbs, bringing with them their daughter named Lucy. They start the game inside the Family Bin and do not yet have a house.

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• Call to Agriculture/Generation Xerox: Like his father in the original game, John has moved his family to the suburbs because he wants to spend more time in his garden.
• Happily Married: John and Jennifer have the strongest starting relationship of any married couple in the base game, and aren't set up for any dramas in the near future.
• House Husband: It is implied that John wants to be this, to focus on his family and his garden.
• Opposites Attract: John's an easy-going farmer type who's more into nature and taking care of his family, Jennifer's an ambitious, career-minded and fashionable city-dweller. Fittingly, their marriage is probably one of the least troubled ones overall.

Tropes applying in The Sims 3:

The Goth, Sr. Family

Appearances: The Sims

The elderly parents of Mortimer Goth, and their two pet cats. See the Goth family above for more information on the rest of their family.

• Granny Classic: Cornelia is outright stated to be this to Cassandra.
• Happily Married: Gunther and Cornelia have a great relationship, especially considering their relationship level during The Sims 3.
• Older Than They Look: Gunther looks to be middle-aged and does not have fully grey hair, despite the fact that he's older than his wife, who looks appropriately elderly.
• Waistcoat of Style: Gunther has a very stylish grey, old-fashioned suit.

The Hick Family

Prominent Family Members: Mama Hick, Elden Hick, Bobo Hick, Leroy Hick, Duke Hick

Appearances: The Sims

Middle-aged former beauty queen Mama Hick lives with her grown son, Elden, and their three dogs, Bobo, Leroy and Duke.

• Brainless Beauty: Mama is a former beauty queen who lost her money to a phone psychic.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: They didn't appear in any other game apart from Unleashed.
• Incest Subtext: Unfortunately, the limitations in the game engine that treat all cohabiting adults as spouses for some purposes cause this on occasion.
• Meaningful Name: They live in a shabby trailer, their stove is on the front yard and the mother lost all her money to a scammer.
• Southern-Fried Genius: Despite likely having little-to-no formal education, Elden is implied to be intelligent and is known to enjoy classical music.

The Kat Family

Prominent Family Members: Ginia Kat, Tara Kat

Appearances: The Sims | The Sims 2

An elderly woman living alone with her four cats.

• Crazy Cat Lady: Downplayed since her personality is actually very sweet and well-adjusted, if a little on the shy side. She does have four cats, though - and her bio mentions that she likes to write and illustrate children's books based on them in her spare time.
• Granny Classic: Possibly the purest example in the game in terms of appearance and temperament, except for the fact that she has no kids or grandkids in evidence. The Sims 2 reveals that she adopted Tara sometime after The Sims 1, so it's easy to imagine her fitting this trope to all intents and purposes, though of course she's actually Tara's adopted mother rather than her grandmother.

The Charming Family

Prominent Family Members: Claire Charming, Luna Charming

Appearances: The Sims

A friendly young woman who lives alone with her pet dog, Luna.

• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Claire and her dog Luna were another of the forgotten characters from the first iteration.
• Hospital Hottie: While she's perhaps not in-your-face stunning, Claire is a very pretty Sim who works in the Medical career.
• Meaningful Name: Claire Charming is easily one of the nicest characters in the game: she works in medicine because she likes helping people as well as being super-smart, likes to volunteer in her spare time, is witty, has esoteric interests in live music and biotechnology; and yet she's not the least bit arrogant or unapproachable, and has one of the highest nice point ratings in the whole game.

Other Characters

NPCs

Bonehilda

A skeletal maid introduced in the Makin' Magic expansion. She appears in every main game except the second, usually in an occult-related pack.

• Artificial Stupidity: Her coding in the fourth game seems to be wonky; most of the time, she'll abandon her job to do whatever she wants. Given her flirty nature, expect her to spend most of her time checking herself out or making seductive poses.
• Breakout Character: She was a popular NPC ever since her introduction, and it's likely her return to Sims 4 came from the large fan campaign to bring her back.
• Fangirl: If she sees the Grim Reaper, she will run to him and try to get his autograph.
• French Maid: Has a French Maid Outfit in every game but 4, since 4 just recycles the regular maid outfit. She's also very flirty, and 4 exaggerates this by letting you sleep with her.
• Ninja Maid: In the fourth game, she can fight (and defeat!) malicious spirits.

Sunny the Tragic Clown

The notorious, constantly depressed, clown who first made his debut in the Livin' Large expansion pack.

• Everyone Has Standards: A menace to SimCity he can be, he's pretty appalled with the Obsessed Fan's non-stop stalking towards sims and will try every attempts to ward them off.
• From Bad to Worse: He will only show up if one of your sims is in a bad mood, he will attempt to cheer them up but, because he is miserable as well, will make it worse for the target sim.
• Innocently Insensitive: At best, he does his best to cheer the depressed sim up. Unfortunately, he proves to be a horrible performer whose tricks he attempts always end in failure (which make an, already upset, sim even more upset).
• No Sense of Personal Space: He really loves to get-up close when performing his "tricks". Even when sims are sleeping, he doesn't have a sense of respect when it comes to it.
• The Resenter: Implied. If he greets Witty Washout (a clown janitor with the same make-up as him) with a hug, his thought bubble will be that of a head-picture of a janitorial clown with a cross-out placed over it.

Downloadable families

Families that were available in the official web to download freely, and who didn't make any appearence past the first game.

The Snooty Patooty Family:

Prominent Family Members: Chip Snooty Patooty, Buffy Snooty Patooty

Appearances: The Sims

A wealthy, arrogant married couple living in a mansion.

• Ambiguously Brown: Buffy and Chip both have the medium skin tone and golden-brown hair, meaning they might be mixed-race, or possibly just very tanned due to their leisurely lifestyle.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Even though Chip and Buffy are jerks, they still care very much about each other, having one of the highest starting relationships of any married couple in the game.
• Iconic Outfit: Buffy dresses identically to Bella Goth, sporting her now-iconic red dress.
• Meaningful Name: Chip and Buffy are both very, very snooty.
• Rich Bitch: Buffy is obviously one.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: They may not be idiots, but they certainly express that attitude: while it's not unusual for pre-made Sims to start off unemployed, Chip and Buffy's bios boast about how the responsibilities attached to their inherited wealth (like being part of the Bridge Club and the Yacht Club) mean they're simply too busy to get jobs.

The Jones Family

Prominent Family Members: Edward Jones, Barbara Jones, Bobby Jones

Appearances: The Sims

A pretty average, suburban family consisting of a husband working a low-wage job, a housewife, and their young son.

• Ambiguously Brown: Barbara.
• Cheerful Child: Bobby.
• Identical Stranger:
  • Barbara uses the exact same facial skin (including skin tone) as Julia Valentino, the only two playable characters for whom this is the case. Though it's possible to play them as siblings or cousins, Sims in TS1 don't have formal relationships or starting relationships outside of their household, meaning they are strangers to one another at the start of the game.
  • Bobby's facial skin is identical to the one used by Boy in the Goth family graveyard. Incidentally, this also makes him a dead ringer for the as-yet-unborn Alexander Goth.
• Nerd Glasses: Both Edward and Bobby.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: Aside from the hair color and clothes, Bobby looks pretty much exactly like his father, though as a child.

The Maximus Family

Prominent Family Members: MAHUIZOH "Jimmy" Maximus, Princess Zaghawa Maximus

Appearances: The Sims

A wealthy, charming, yet somewhat misogynist criminal, who married a Sim Native princess and opera singer.

• Ambiguously Brown: "Jimmy" Maximus. His real first name, MAHUIZOH, is Nahuatl, possibly implying he's descended from the indigenous people of Mexico.
• Ladykiller in Love: MAHUIZOH's bio makes it clear that he was used women in the past. However, he is genuinely in love with Zaghawa.
• My Name Is ???: The husband of the family is only known as MAHUIZOH "Jimmy" Maximus. Though Mahuizoh actually is an Aztec name, why it's in ALL CAPS remains a mystery.
• My Nayme Is: SPELLED WITH ALL CAPS, in MAHUIZOH's case.
• Rebellious Princess: Princess Zaghawa rejected her royal life to reach her dream of becoming an opera singer.
• Waist Coat Of Style: Wears the same outfit as Mortimer Goth.

The Hatfield Family

Prominent Family Members: Ulysses T Hatfield, Ruby Ann Hatfield, Hank Hatfield, Billy Hatfield, Elizabeth Elvira Hatfield

Appearances: The Sims

An extremely lower-class clan of rednecks, consisting of a husband and wife, their two sons, and daughter. The wife's bio implies that she is pregnant with her fourth child, though since pregnancy wasn't a game mechanic in The Sims, it is up to the player whether or not they have another child.

• Dead Sparks: Ulysses T and Ruby Ann have the second lowest starting relationship of any married couple in the game (the lowest belongs to Bob and Betty Newbie). They're still friends, but can't fall in love until the player intervenes to improve things between them.
• Sibling Rivalry: Hank and Billy are said to tease Elizabeth a lot.
• Southern-Fried Genius: Elizabeth Elvira starts off in a pretty unpromising situation: the youngest child and only girl of a dirt-poor family, her brothers tease her, her father seems completely disinterested in her compared to the boys, and while her mother clearly cares for her she also wants to use her to live out her own failed dreams of becoming a model and actress. However, Elizabeth's starting school grade is the highest of any child's in the game (higher even than Cassandra Goth's!), implying that she's about to discover she fits this trope.

The Valentino Family

Prominent Family Members: Rudy Valentino, Julia Valentino

Appearances: The Sims

A wealthy and fashionable couple living in a mansion-style home. Julia is employed in law enforcement, while Rudy is a househusband.

• Ambiguously Brown: Both Rudy and Julia.
• Fair Cop: Julia Valentino is pretty and fashionable in her at-home appearance, and is well on her way to advancing up the ranks of the law enforcement career.
• House Husband: Rudy is unemployed at the start of the game, while his wife works.
• Identical Stranger: Julia uses the exact same facial skin (including skin tone) as Barbara Jones, the only two playable characters for whom this is the case. Though it's possible to play them as siblings or cousins, Sims in TS1 don't have formal relationships or starting relationships outside of their household, meaning they are strangers to one another at the start of the game.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: It's not hard to suss out that Rudy Valentino is something of a Shout-Out to Rudolph Valentino.

The Agent Family

Prominent Family Members: CIA Agent, INS Agent, ATF Agent, NSA Agent, Intern Agent, FBI Agent

Appearances: The Sims

Six mysterious characters whose home is known as "The White House", and who are implied to be keeping surveillance on the other inhabitants of the neighbourhood, for unknown reasons.

• CIA Evil, FBI Good: The CIA Agent works as a career criminal, while the FBI Agent has a detective job.
• Incredibly Obvious Bug: Their whole shtick in the game is that they're meant to be keeping discreet tabs on the other residents, yet even though their neighbours don't know their real names, they do know exactly which agency every agent is working for.
• No Name Given: Instead of proper names, they only go by descriptions, possibly because they're meant to be in the neighbourhood incognito: FBI Agent, NSA Agent, CIA Agent, ATF Agent, INS Agent, and Intern Agent.