# The Sims: 2 or 3? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 17, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sims-2-or-3/567970 "2011-01-17T18:27:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sims-2-or-3/567970/1 "2011-01-17T18:27:19Z")
Back when _The Sims 2_ came out, I told myself “Not until after you finish grad school.” But several years after getting my piece of paper, I still haven’t switched to a new _Sims_ game. (I haven’t played the original version in years, either.) I’ve waited so long that now _The Sims 3_ has been out for a year or two. The other day I was out shopping and saw that _The Sims 2: Double Deluxe_ is available for about $20. This contains the base game, the Nightlife expansion pack, and the Celebration stuff pack. Or _The Sims 3_ is available for about $40, plus another $40 for each add-on. _The Sims 2: Double Deluxe_ seems like a good deal to me and I was tempted to plunk down my $20 right then, but I wanted to ask around about the relative merits of _The Sims 2_ and _The Sims 3_. Is _The Sims 3_ a big enough improvement over _The Sims 2_ to make it worth the extra money for a casual gamer like me? I searched around online a little but most of the comments I found were from when _The Sims 3_ was first released, and people were suggesting that others wait until there were expansion packs available. There are several _Sims 3_ expansion packs out now, although even just buying one expansion pack for _The Sims 3_ would have me spending 4x more than I would on _The Sims 2: Double Deluxe_. Most of my Sims-playing friends apparently just ignored _The Sims 3_ when it came out and stuck with _The Sims 2_, so they can’t give me a comparison of the games. I figure some Dopers must have played both games, so what do you think? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sims-2-or-3/567970/2 "2011-01-17T18:40:57Z")
The biggest change is in the Sims 3, you have more options in Create-A-Sim, doubly so if you add the slider hacks available (recommended) and customizing everything else with Create-A-Style within the game. If you want a shirt to use the same pattern as the drapes, no problem. Same with making doors and windows match and so on. It also lessens the amount of downloads as you only need 1 item and customize as you wish. With Sims 2 you needed to download each recolor of an item. However, right now, Sims 2 is the better value but I don’t know how long support will continue. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sims-2-or-3/567970/3 "2011-01-17T19:46:20Z")
If you want I will gladly send you the following for free: The Sims2 - Base game EP - University EP - Nightlife EP - Open for Business I have Enable Private Messaging. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sims-2-or-3/567970/4 "2011-01-17T19:49:46Z")
That is ONE of the biggest changes, but the largest by far is that way the world works now. In previous Sims, the world was not a seamless whole that continued to evolve whether you were there or not. It was a series of areas that did not exist unless you happened to be in them. In the old Sims you would visit your neighbors, go back to your home and have kids, who grew up, then go back o your neighbors who were just the same as the last time you met them. Also the new wish system is great and adds a lot to game play. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sims-2-or-3/567970/5 "2011-01-17T19:57:26Z")
**Kinthalis** , I don’t know how I forgot that. :smack: To expand, in Sims 2, when you went off your home lot, time would freeze. You could spend days at a community lot and when you returned it was the same time you left. In Sims 3 time marches on. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sims-2-or-3/567970/6 "2011-01-17T20:10:33Z")
You can’t get World Adventures with 2. I love World Adventures. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sims-2-or-3/567970/7 "2011-01-17T21:26:43Z")
It depends on whether you like the “managing someone’s life” aspect of Sims or the “dicking around” aspect. To put it bluntly: Sims 3 is, by far, the easiest. You do not need a job, and you don’t need anything more than a token income to pay the occasional bills (and even then, only until you save up enough points to buy No Bills Ever). This makes the game much less challenging, no more do you have to get a job on the first day and then sacrifice the rest of your free time keeping your mood up. However, this allows you to do many other things such as master every skill without fear of starving to death or anything. One tip though, if you get Ambitions, the sculpting skill is completely broken, especially with the associated trait. If you want tons of money quickly, become a master sculpter; nothing else, be it job or skill comes close. Sims 3 is heavily nerfed in terms of difficulty, it also seems about 50x easier to keep everybody happy, especially with the new moodlet/buff system, but I just find it more fun. Of course, if you liked the people management aspect of the game Sims 2 may be the better choice. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sims-2-or-3/567970/8 "2011-01-17T22:16:19Z")
I am a big fan of The Sims 2. I played it for years and had most of the expansions. I was really looking forward to The Sims 3 but found I really didn’t like it. Unlike The Sims 2, you basically have to just play one Sim family since if yous witch, their lives go one (there was a setting to turn this off but IIRC it also turned other things off as well). It also felt more like a game and less like a sandbox than The Sims 2 did. There were some good changes as well but over all, I don’t Play The Sims 3 anymore but would keep playing The Sims 2 if I took the time to reinstall it on my new PC. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sims-2-or-3/567970/9 "2011-01-18T00:30:09Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > If you want I will gladly send you the following for free: > > The Sims2 - Base game > EP - University > EP - Nightlife > EP - Open for Business > > I have Enable Private Messaging. Thanks for the offer, but while I appreciate it I’m not really comfortable with the idea. Nothing personal. Maybe someone else here would like the games? ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sims-2-or-3/567970/10 "2011-01-18T10:54:06Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Thanks for the offer, but while I appreciate it I’m not really comfortable with the idea. Nothing personal. Maybe someone else here would like the games? I understand - no problem. I will just toss it with the rest of my belongings that I’m throwing out.