A playable Sim is a Sim which belongs to the active household, or in a broader sense any Sim belonging to a household that is playable and not an NPC.
In The Sims 2, The Sims 3, and The Sims 4, most NPCs can be made into playable Sims by moving them into a household. In The Sims, it can only be done with townies; however, doing it runs the risk of triggering the Urban Renewal Loop, unless Makin' Magic or a compilation containing it is installed.
Some Sims can live in a household without being playable, such as butlers in The Sims 3: Late Night, and roommates in The Sims 2: Apartment Life.
As a rule of thumb, the main characters in Story Mode-based console games count as being the Playable Sim in those games. As more and more features from the PC games slowly made their way to console games, especially from The Sims 3 onwards, Story Modes and dedicated player Sims were phased out.
The Sims (console)
| Playable Sim | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Family | |
| Parents | Mom Landgraab |
| Other information | |
| Game | The Sims (console) |
| Playability | Playable |
| Neighborhood | SimValley |
The playable Sim lives with their Mom in SimValley. Mom eventually marries Malcolm Landgraab, making his children, Mimi and Dudley, the playable Sim's step-siblings.
- This section is in need of additional information. You can help The Sims Wiki by expanding this section.
The Sims Bustin' Out (console)
| Playable Sim | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Family | |
| Parents | Mom Landgraab |
| Other information | |
| Game |  The Sims Bustin' Out (console)
|
| Playability | Playable |
| Neighborhood | SimValley |
- This section is in need of additional information. You can help The Sims Wiki by expanding this section.
The Sims Bustin' Out (handheld)
| Playable Sim | |
|---|---|
| |
| Age |  Adult
|
| Life state |  Alien |
| Family | |
| Marital status | Single |
| Appearance | |
| Body shape | Normal |
| Other information | |
| Game | The Sims Bustin' Out (handheld)
|
| Playability | Playable |
| Cause of death | Rocket crash (unconfirmed) |
| Neighborhood | SimValley |
The player Sim was found in a corn field by an unspecified woman who adopted him, but who never told him about how she discovered him. Having later grown into a young adult, the player Sim arrives at Uncle Hayseed's House on a summer vacation with their Uncle Hayseed. Spending the summer doing various menial, social, and physical tasks, the player Sim gradually moves out from the house and into steadily more prestigious houses.
Eventually, Player Sim befriends large parts of SimValley and is recommended to run for Mayor, having been told about O. Phil McClean having found a legal loophole that lets anyone call a snap election for mayor at any time. McClean later drops out of the race and player Sim enters the election unopposed.
Having found a rocket ship in the basement of The Barn, the player Sim brings it back to the Imperial Estates.
After having placed the rocket ship and going back inside, and before the election has taken place, Uncle Hayseed stands next to one of the entrances, explaining that summer has come to an end, that the player Sim is almost certainly an alien found in a corn field. Hayseed then very strongly recommends Player Sim to enter the rocket ship before it lifts; and if not, he tells Player Sim that they would regret for the rest of their life not entering it (How it would have led to regret is unclear).
As the player Sim walks out again to enter the rocket, a lot of NPCs stand by to greet the player's parade. Giuseppi Mezzoalto can be seen sneaking away from the parade and back into the house. The player Sim enters the rocket, which launches into space. Having left the Earth's atmosphere, it makes a U-turn and rapidly falls back to Earth as a laughing voice is heard, being on impact course to the ground. Before any sort of impact or further developments occur, the game then ends on that cliffhanger as the credits roll, with no designated postgame or post-credits cutscenes.
While Urbz heavily implies the playable Sim to be the same as in Bustin' Out, the source of the laughter remains unknown as of March 2026.
The Urbz: Sims in the City (console)
| Playable Sim | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Age | Adult
|
| Life state |  Human |
| Family | |
| Parents | Unspecified mom |
| Marital status | Single |
| Appearance | |
| Body shape | Normal |
| Other information | |
| Game | The Urbz: Sims in the City (console) |
| Playability | Playable |
| Neighborhood | Urbzville |
The playable Urb lives in a small apartment on 98th Ave. One day, the most famous Urb in Urbzville, Darius, arrives with will.i.am (who somehow knows the playable Urb's mother and relays messages from her). will.i.am has told Darius that the player can do Power Socials, and they demonstrate the Power Chord social to him. Darius is impressed and, before leaving, encourages the player to build their reputation and make a name for themselves in the city.
After the intro, the playable Urb can travel to the district they chose before starting the game. There is a set pattern that dictates the order of the districts unlocked after completing tasks at one district; for instance, if the player begins at Cozmo Street, the next district they will unlock is always Diamond Heights.
The playable Urb works to build their reputation, which can either be done by making a plethora of friends or enemies; the Urb will perform a different celebratory animation depending on the path chosen. Their ultimate goal is to claim Darius' Penthouse for themselves, achieved by increasing their reputation high enough while also defeating three "villains" who harass the districts' residents. As their reputation increases, their face will replace Darius' image on various posters and billboards spread across Urbzville.
Prior to the game's release, Jayde was heavily promoted as the player character, and she is the default Urb in Create-a-Sim. She is still shown in the game's intro, building her reputation to bypass a bouncer.
The Urbz: Sims in the City (handheld)
| Playable Sim | |
|---|---|
| |
| Other information | |
| Game | The Urbz: Sims in the City (handheld) |
| Playability | Playable |
| Neighborhood | Miniopolis |
Story
In The Urbz: Sims in the City, the player Urb is a janitor in Miniopolis, working alongside Kris Thistle at King Tower, Glasstown. They are a member of one of four Rep groups (either the Richies, Streeties, Nerdies, or Artsies), and their chosen Rep group helped them land a job.
One day, Daddy Bigbucks purchases King Tower, promptly firing most of the staff, which includes the player, who "has nowhere else to go." After Kris accidentally locks them inside the tower, the player is sent on a mission to lockpick Lily Gates' office for the spare key; she happens to be Daddy Bigbucks' lawyer, and the two arrive to catch the player committing breaking-and-entering. The player is arrested and sent to the Miniopolis Penitentiary in Urbania. There, the player manages to persuade Det. Dan D. Mann into letting them out on probation.
From this point on, the player must build their reputation and improve their relationships with the residents and townies of Miniopolis, while uncovering Daddy Bigbucks' sinister plot to own Miniopolis. At one point, Daddy Bigbucks attempts to murder the player by throwing them into the lake, which fails, and they end up in the Bayou. Through a series of quests, they return to the mainland.
The playable Urb finds out that Daddy Bigbucks is assembling a time machine to alter the original land claim in the past, so he will own Miniopolis in the present. The player mobilizes a team to create their own time machine, traveling back to the 19th century to move Daddy Bigbucks' land claim, voiding his deed. Afterward, Det. Dan D. Mann arrests him for his crimes. Everyone in Miniopolis gathers to celebrate the player as they stroll through the city during a parade, which culminates in the unveiling of a statue bearing their likeness in Glasstown.
Afterward, the playable Urb stumbles upon Daddy Bigbucks' abandoned plans for the construction of Splicer Island.[URBZ DS] Using these plans, the player gathers a team to help build and operate the island, where a gene laboratory is created. This lab allows for the creation of pets.
The playable Urb can romance townies of the opposite gender. They must also establish residence in the city and attend university during some of the early missions.
Connection to Bustin' Out (handheld)
The playable Urb is heavily implied to be the same player character from Bustin' Out; the rocket ship is found on the rooftop of King Tower, and the player may sometimes receive a phone call from Uncle Hayseed, who tells them "to visit the farm" since "the chickens miss them." When Busta Cruz uses the term "Bob's your uncle," the player has a chance to inform him their uncle's name is Hayseed. Many returning characters, such as Giuseppi Mezzoalto, vaguely hint at remembering the player from somewhere (i.e. SimValley). This may indicate the player crash-landed in Miniopolis, but managed to get back on their feet. There is also no mention of any previous revelations about the player, avoiding spoilers.
The Sims 2 (Nintendo DS)
| Playable Sim | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Age |  Adult
|
| Appearance | |
| Body shape |  Thin
|
| Other information | |
| Game | The Sims 2 (Nintendo DS) |
| Playability | Playable |
| Neighborhood | Strangetown |
Not much is known about the playable Sim in The Sims 2 for Nintendo DS. However, the game's intro shows them driving erratically into Strangetown before swerving and coming to a complete stop. Their car seems to be poorly-maintained, as their engine is said to have a large amount of holes, leading to them checking into the local hotel, where the previous owner has mysteriously skipped town just a day prior. At the behest of the townsfolk, they are bestowed the deed to the hotel, becoming the new manager.
The playable Sim eventually becomes the Ratticator.
- This section is in need of additional information. You can help The Sims Wiki by expanding this section.
The Sims 2: Apartment Pets
| Playable Sim | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Age | Adult
|
| Life state | Human |
| Household | |
| Pets | Yes |
| Other information | |
| Game | The Sims 2: Apartment Pets |
| Playability | Playable |
The player Sim is tasked by "Uncle Bill" to look after his pet spa while he is away (There are no known indications that he ever returns), and he also lets the player Sim borrow his penthouse apartment while looking after it.
- This section is in need of additional information. You can help The Sims Wiki by expanding this section.
MySims
| Playable Sim | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Age | Adult
|
| Life state | Human |
| Education and employment | |
| Career |  Architecture
|
| Family | |
| Marital status | Single |
| Other information | |
| Game | MySims |
| Playability | Playable |
| Neighborhood | MyTown |
The player Sim is considered one of very few people who can harness the power of Essences, which is used to build buildings with extreme ease, and to craft objects with ease. The Sim offers their services to the MyTown mayor Rosalyn P. Marshall to help rebuild the town. The Player Sim then spends most of the game obtaining various sources of Essence, and use them to build things to convince the town hotel's visitors to move into the town full-time.
MySims Kingdom
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The player Sim starts out the game as a farmer who works at Elmira Clamp's pig farm on Capital Island. After the Sim's 2 best friends, Lyndsay and Buddy, agree to sign the Sim up to the Royal Wandolier trials, the Sim wins relatively easily and is awarded Royal Wandolier status by King Roland, a magic wand with levitational powers, and a royal mission to travel around in his kingdom to fix infrastructures and problems.
The player Sim then performs the missions, eventually also getting a private island of their own after completing the maingame.