The Sims 3/Create-A-Sim

You can shape many aspects of your Sim, and some of them even affect the way the game will be played. You can create up to eight Sims. You can choose to create your own unique Sim, use the pre-made Sims offered by the game, or create a totally random Sim by clicking the random button.

Basics
These are the basic aspects of your Sim, and are the building blocks for the rest of the Sim's attributes. Here you will choose your Sim's name, gender, age, skin tone and any body modifiers. While most features have no bearing on your gameplay, age and gender do.

Choosing to be older or younger will determine whether you can perform certain activities and how many traits you can assign to your Sim. Adults are able to get jobs, fall in love and get married, and they can have up to five traits. Younger Sims get less trait choices and have more restrictions on their activities. In addition, creating a minor requires that you also create a caretaker for that Sim. Younger Sims also create an added responsibility, as they can't be left alone without someone to watch them, either you or a babysitter.

Gender doesn't affect as much of your gameplay, and only determines to whom you can propose. In The Sims 3, you can only marry another Sim of the opposite sex. This only applies to marriage, however, as you can still fall in love with and move in with a Sim of any sex.

Appearance
The hair section consists of the hair on top of the Sim's head, along with its accessories; eyebrows and eyelashes; and, for male Sims, any facial hair. You can change both the style and color of your Sim's hair. This is also where you specify whether your Sim will wear a hat or not.

Looks covers the rest of your Sim's physical characteristics. Here, you can modify the size and shape of your Sim's head, ears, eyes, nose and mouth. You can also assign any topical details and pick your makeup, if applicable.

When you have chosen your physical traits, you can then go through your clothing options. You have different categories from which to choose, including formal wear, every day, athletic, etc.

Personality
This is the most important part of creating your Sim. The traits your choose for your character will influence the rest of your game. You can choose from 2–5 traits, depending on the age of your Sim, with adults able to have five traits. There are four categories under which Sim traits fall:
 * Mental
 * Physcial
 * Social
 * Lifestyle

Hold over a trait to view a description. When choosing traits, try to pick ones that correspond with how you want your Sim to develop. You are free to choose almost any different traits, although picking some can exclude others which are directly opposite.

The traits you choose will determine how well you pick up certain skills, which can also influence the types of jobs that offered to you. For younger Sims, you'll gain access to more traits as you grow, provided you can keep your Sim happy. You are also able to learn more traits by interacting with other characters.

Once you've selected your traits, the Lifetime Wishes for your Sim will be shown. Achieving these throughout the game will make your Sim happy and earn you Lifetime Happiness Points, which can be used to access new objects and traits. Additionally, you can spend your Lifetime Happiness Points on a mid-life crisis for your Sim, which allows you to set an all new personality.

The last part of your Sim's personality is his or her favorites and voice. You can choose a favorite color, food, music, etc. and keeping these options in mind throughout the game will improve your Sim's mood. You can also change your Sim's voice, but this is a cosmetic option, like the appearance characteristics.

Relationships
Once you have completed creating your Sim, you can then define the relationships between him or her and other Sims. Drag the Sims' icons over other icons to bring up a menu where you can set their family ties.