Non-playable character

NPCs are Non Playable Characters. They are in every Sim game: The Sims, The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. There are two main types of NPC; ones that through relationships and simple cheats will be able to be playable characters without any programming errors and ones that were specifically not meant to be played.

The Sims
There are several NPCs who appear in the game other than those which can be hired to provide services. In The Sims, most NPCs either can't be interacted with at all, or only have a few interactions that are related to their function. (While townies are considered to be a class of NPC, they are outside the scope of this article.)

Most NPCs are listed below:


 * Nancy the Paper Girl: The most commonly seen NPC in the game. She appears at 9 am every morning to deliver the newspaper. If a family has a dog, the dog may scare away the paper girl, but she will deliver the paper first.


 * Postal Woman: She appears every 3 days to deliver the bills, which she places in the mailbox.


 * Repo-man: If a family doesn't have enough money to pay their bills, the repo man will show up and use his repossessing gun to absorb some of the objects in their house to cover the bills.


 * Social Worker: If the player doesn't see that babies are taken care of, the social worker will appear to take them away.


 * Burglar: Whenever every Sim on the lot is asleep, the burglar may sneak in and steal their possessions. Players can either have a Sim call the police, or buy an alarm. With the alarm installed, the police will arrive instantly. If the police are called over the the phone, it may take too long for them to arrive, and the burglar may escape.


 * Entertainer: The Entertainer is introduced in House Party. If you buy the large cake under Miscellaneous and click on the command, 'Buy Male/Female Entertainer', the entertainer will emerge from within and start entertaining the guests. Be careful, though, because the entertainer might stir some jealousy from other people at the party.


 * Mime: Introduced in House Party, the Mime will show up at a party if it is going very badly. While he will try to raise the mood a bit, he isn't very good at it. The Mime has been known to steal objects around the house. He will leave only when the party gets better.


 * Party Crasher: Also introduced in House Party, party crashers will arrive during mediocre to fairly good parties, and have been known to destroy objects, though they do not always do so.


 * Drew Carey A real life celebrity who shows up as a reward for a great party.


 * Santa Claus: If you have a Christmas tree up, and you place a plate of cookies on a table near the fireplace just before midnight, Santa Claus will show up while your Sims are sleeping. He'll leave a "gift" for each of Sim in the family, plus an extra special present, which could be any item.


 * Obsessed fan: Introduced in Superstar, your Sims can attract unwanted attention if they achieve 3 stars of fame or more. The obsessed fans will stalk your Sims wherever they go, at home or at work. They leave 'special presents' for your Sims - black roses. They also paw through your dustbins.


 * Grim Reaper: Introduced in Livin' Large. Grim shows up whenever a Sim dies. What happens next depends on his mood. If Death is in a bad mood, he will take the corpse with no way to prevent it; if Death is in a good mood, the player can direct another Sim to challenge Grim. If he accepts, he will play rock, paper, scissors with that Sim, or will put a die under three cups and mix them up. The Sim will have to try to pick the cup which holds the die. If the Sim wins the game, or picks the right cup, the deceased is brought back to life for a second chance, but if the Sim loses/picks the wrong cup, Death will either take the corpse or, be nice and create a zombie.


 * Animal Control Evan: Introduced in Unleashed, he is the neighborhood's animal control officer. When Animal Control is called, he will come to remove El Bandito or Henri LeStanc. He cannot be called unless one of the two is on the lot.


 * Marilyn Monroe, Christina Aguilera and Avril Lavigne are introduced in Superstar. They will appear at random on lots in Studio Town.

The Sims 2
The Sims 2 NPCs are much more colorful. For starters, basic NPCs can be interacted with (talked to, befriended, married etc.) and each has a different face, hair color and name. They can be male or females and they make more logical decisions, mostly. When an NPC becomes playable, a new NPC will be generated to take the old NPC's place. There are two types of NPCs. The one that can be made playable or selectable (using boolprop) and the other one that cannot. The former can be interacted with, and the latter cannot. Most NPCs are generated 3 of each.

Townies
Townie is the biggest class of NPC. Townies wander around the town or make a visit to your house. There are many types of Townies in The Sims 2. Below is the list of the Townies:
 * Townies: Townies are Sims who do not live in the neighborhood, but they live close enough so that they can come into town. They are full fledged Sims with jobs, skills and personalities. They can be found almost anywhere, residential or community lot.
 * Dormies: Dormies are Young Adult Sims who live in the college sub-neighborhood. They occupy the empty rooms in the dormitories where your Sims live.
 * Secret Society Members: They are Dormies who are the member of Secret Society.
 * Downtownies: Downtownies are similar to Townies, but they can only be found in Downtown. They also have better skills and job than regular Townies.
 * Strays: Strays are wandering dogs or cats who behave just like common Townies, only as pets. They don't belong to anyone.
 * Garden Club Members: Garden Club Members are just several ordinary Townies, but they will come to inspect your garden and give you garden club membership if you ask them. They also sell Planthopic-C potion to cure Plantsimism.
 * Locals: Locals are special Townies who only live in specific Vacation Destination. There are 3 types of locals: Mountain, Beach, and Far East locals. Locals have already known their own local gestures, dance, and so on. When invited to house, they can be houseguest for 3 days.
 * Tourists: Tourists are like locals, they can only be found in Vacation Destination. Unlike locals, they don't have specific location, so you can find the same tourists in different Vacation Destinations. They sometimes have already learned some gestures or dances. When invited to house, they can be houseguest for 3 days.
 * Social Class Townies: These Townies aren't the same as regular Townies. They have their own gesture and favorite story. Their presence indicates how high your Residential Lot has or your Apartment. Only Social Class Townies occupy the vacant apartment slots. Regular Townies never share their behavior.
 * Roomies: Also known as Roommates, Roomies are a bit different than other Townies. They are your Roommate, so they can be selectable, but not playable. Their Sim skewer (the Sim selection on the left of the screen) will always be the same branch as other pets' skewer. Even if they are your guest or visitor in Community Lot, when you make them selectable, they will still have their skewer on the branch, thus, you won't be able to control them what to do. When they are no longer listed as Roomies, you can control them again.

Service NPCs
Service NPCs are NPCs that helps you around the house, or so.
 * Maids: Maids clean your house and do most of the housekeeping. They come everyday.
 * Gardeners: Gardeners clean your garden, pull weeds, water flowers, trim shrubs, and rake falling leaves. They come once every 3 days.
 * Nannies: Nannies take care of your babies, toddlers, children. You can track your work schedule with them. It's important to hire nanny if there's no teen or older Sim in your house. Leaving children unattended will make Social Worker to pay a visit to take away your children. Nannies are also needed when you go to Community Lot or going on vacation.
 * Bartenders: You can hire a bartender to tend your bar if you have one in your home. They are paid per hour.
 * Exterminators: Whenever your house is infested with cockroaches, you can call exterminator in case you don't want to get sick by stomping or spraying the roaches.
 * Repairmen: When your electronics break down, you can call a repairman. They are a bit costly, but in case you don't want your Sim to get electrocuted, call them.
 * Gypsy Matchmakers: Gypsy Matchmakers sell potions to your Sims. You can buy love potions, ReNuYu Porta-Chug, or potions to cure Vampirism, Lycantrophy, PlantSimism, or Witchiness. You can also ask for blind date from her.
 * Obedience Trainers: Obedience Trainers train your adult pets and sell Lycantrophic-B potions.
 * Butlers: Butlers take over almost all of the Service NPCs work. So, you no longer need to hire every single Service NPC for housekeeping. Butlers are very costly, so mind your budget before hire them. Butlers don't take care some problems, such as cockroach, fire, or burglar. Instead, they call corresponding NPCs.
 * Landlords: Landlords are assumed to be the owner of the Apartment Lot. You can pay the weekly rent directly to Landlords or the mailbox. You can lower the rent by making friends with them. They will garden and clean the common area in Apartment Lot.

Emergency NPCs
Emergency NPCs arrive immediately after you call them via phone.
 * Police: Police immediately arrive when a burglar alarm rings. They can apprehend burglar, but sometimes they can't. They also appear when a Teen sneaks out or a party is thrown until midnight. You also need to call the police when your Teens or pets ran away. When you adopt a pet, police will arrive to bring the pet, and also when you are sent to Secret Society, a police officer will "arrest" your Sim.
 * Firefighters: A firefighter immediately arrives as soon as you call them or a fire alarm rings. They put out fire and it's always successful. When a fire is very big, they sometimes call for help from other firefighters.

Other Service NPCs
Other than hired Service NPCs, there are also some Service NPCs who come with some occasion.
 * Social Workers*: A Social Worker come when any of your children is left unattended for a period, have critical needs, or have too low or too high temperature to take away your children. They also come when your Sims adopt a child.
 * Repo Men*: If your bills are left unpaid for 3 days, Repo Man will come to take away some of your objects to cover your bills.
 * Mail Carriers: Mail Carriers come to your house to deliver your bill every Tuesday and Thursday, or in College Sub-Neighborhood, every 3 days. They also come to take your paid bills.
 * Newspaper Boys/Girls: Often called "Newsie". They deliver your newspaper everyday in the morning. They are always Teenagers. They also deliver hobby magazines.
 * Carpool Drivers*: Carpool Drivers are the ones who drive the carpool, school bus, fly the helicopter, etc.
 * Pizza Deliverers: They deliver pizza when your Sim orders one.
 * Chinese Food Deliverers: Just like Pizza Deliverers, only they deliver Chinese Food.
 * Delivery Men: They deliver most of the things, other than bills, newspaper, pizza, and Chinese food. They deliver groceries, novels (when your Sim finishes one), photo albums, and photo snapshots.

Community Service NPCs
Community Service NPCs are Service NPCs who serve your Sims in Community Lots.
 * Cashier: Cashiers are always teens. Whenever there's a cashing register in community lot, they will occupy it. Although they look like very skilled in cashiering, they actually don't have golden cashiering talent badge.
 * Cafeteria Chef: They work in cafeteria in a dorm or in any Community Lot in College Sub-Neighborhood.
 * Barista: They are the one who serve your Sims when your Sims order coffee in Community Lots. They are similar to Bartenders.
 * Hosts: In every restaurant, hosts serve your Sims in the podium and seat them to any available table or bar.
 * Servers: Servers are waiters or waitresses in restaurant. They wait on your Sims, bring your food, and clean tables and dirty floor.
 * Cook: Cooks prepare the dish in restaurant. Unlike other Service NPCs, they cannot be interacted with.
 * DJs: If there's a DJ booth in Community Lot, DJs will use them. You can also work part-time as DJ and earn hourly pay.
 * Makeovers: When there's a vacant salon chair in an unowned Community Lot, a makeover will take over the salon chair to give your Sims makeover.
 * Local Chefs*: Local Chefs cook food for your Sims whenever there is a set of Food Stand in community lot. There are four kinds of Local Chefs. They are Mountain Local Chef, Far East Local Chef, Tropical Local Chef, and Diner Local Chef. Each Local Chef prepares different food.
 * Human Statues*: When Poised Podium by Performance Arts is placed in community lot, a Human Statue will appear there. Your Sims can watch them or give them tips.
 * Break Dancers*: If there's a breakdance mat in a community lot, there will be a Break Dancer. You can watch them break dancing or study break dance from them. They are similar to Fire Dancers.

Wandering NPCs
These NPCs usually wander around the town, or even walk by your house.
 * Professors: Your Sim can meet professors in College Sub-Neighborhood. They sometimes appear in Secret Hobby Lot. You can ask them for tutor to increase class performance. You will always meet Professors at the first time you go to class.
 * Coaches: Coaches are very disturbing. They sometimes appear in a lot, whether it's College Community Lot, Dorm, or even your College House. They will yell at your Sims and force them to work out.
 * Mascots: There are 2 Mascots, Good and Bad. The Good Mascots dress in Llama costume, while the Bad Mascots dress in Cow costume. They will appear in any lot in College Sub-Neighborhood. The Good Mascots will autonomously school cheer in front of any Sims. The Bad Mascots will always do pranks, irritate, and annoy your Sims, and even do some flirting. When the 2 mascots see each others, they will fight. The Good Mascot will always win because they have maxed Body skills, while the Bad one doesn't.
 * Cheerleaders: Cheerleaders are much similar to Good Mascots. They appear in any College Sub-Neighborhood lot. They will autonomously school cheer in front of Sims. They usually fight against the Bad Mascots too, but they will always win since Cheerleaders have maxed body skill.
 * Streakers: Like the name, Streakers streak in any lot in College Sub-Neighborhood. Other Sims will react shocked when they see the nude Streakers.
 * Mrs. Crumplebottom*: This cranky, strict old woman is wandering in every community lot in Downtown. Mrs. Crumplebottom hates to see when two Sims are doing romantic social in the public. When she sees any, she will beat them with her purse. She will ruin any dream date to a bad one. She will also lecture any Sims who are wearing undies, swimming suit, or naked.
 * Deteable Slobs: These slobs are very mean and sloppy. They can only be found in Downtown or Secret Hobby Lots. Slobs are pretty easy to recognize since they wear very dirty clothes.
 * Mr. Big &amp; The Diva: Mr. Big and The Diva have different generated names for each game, but they always have the same appearance. Mr. Big wears red lounge suit and has neat hairstyle, while The Diva wears black dress with red scarf, and has long hair. They are Downtownies and very rich, but also mean. If they move in the family, they will add §70000 to the family funds.
 * Grand Vampires: They are the leader of vampires in the Downtown, and they can only be found in Downtown at night. Grand Vampires have bluish skin tone, red eyes, and fangs. They have pleasure aspiration. Grand Vampires always have prefix "Count" in their name for male and "Contessa" for female. If you make friends with them, they will bite your Sims and turn them into a vampire.
 * Pack Leaders: Pack Leader appears as a large dogs with black fur and glowing yellow eyes. If you make friends with them, they will nibble your Sim and your Sim will become a werewolf. They mostly appear at night. You can greet them to your house, but they usually break your house and make messes. They also can't be taught any commands or be given commands, so it's rather annoying. Pack Leaders have their own names.
 * Stinky Skunk*: Stinky Skunk wanders around your home. Your Sims may pet, watch, or chase him off, though the former two actions will make your Sims sprayed. If sprayed, your Sims will get negative memory, have empty hygiene need, and will be the talk of gossip. Pets can also be sprayed.
 * Penguin*: Penguins may appear in your house if it's snowing, there's a snowman in the lot (Whether finished, unfinished, or broken), or a fish is mounted on the wall. He will talk to the snowman for hours and leave. Your Sims can pet him or shoo him. If he's unhappy, he will leave the house or may eventually pee himself.
 * High Witches: There are two High Witches, Good and Evil. If you make friends with them, you can ask them to turn you into a witch. They appear in every community lot, including the College Sub-Neighborhood. Good Witch will cast Beautificus Locus and summon Good Spectral Cat when arriving in a lot, while Evil Witch will cast Corruptus Locus and summon Evil Spectral Cat. When both Witches appear at the same time, they will usually fight each other.

Special NPCs
Special NPCs come when a special or rare occasion occurs.
 * The Grim Reaper*: The Grim Reaper only appears when there's a dead Sim on a lot. Most of the time, you can plead with The Grim Reaper to bring the dead Sim back to life, unless they died of old age, drowning, or have been eaten by Cowplant. When a Sim dies of old age happily, The Grim Reaper will appear with 2 Hula Zombies accompanying him.
 * Hula Zombies*: Hula Zombies appear only when a Sim dies of old age. They will dance hula while The Grim Reaper escorts the dead Sim. Their face resembles Bella Goth a lot.
 * Social Bunnies: If there's a Sim with critical social need, a Social Bunny will hop and appear in front of the lonely Sim. Only the Sim with low social need can see them. Sims can interact with them, friendly or mean. Either way, Social Bunny will fill up the social need by any interaction. When the need is halfway to full, they will hop to disappear. There are 3 colors of Social Bunnies: pink, blue, and yellow.
 * Headmasters: Headmaster appear when your Sims invite them to send your children or teens to private school. They will arrive for dinner at 5 PM. You need to schmooze and impress him in order to send your children to private school.
 * Burglars: Like the name, burglars steal something from your home. On really rare occasion, burglar appears at midnight and steal something in your house. You can't apprehend burglar yourself. You can buy alarm or call the police to apprehend the burglar. Sometimes, the police himself loses fight and the burglar will get away with your stuff. But, if the police wins, you will get a reward for catching the burglar.
 * Therapist: Often called Sim Shrink. When there's a Sim with critically low aspiration, Therapist will appear. Only the Sim with aspiration failure can see him. He will help your Sim to push your aspiration a bit higher. After that, he'll be gone.
 * Reporters: Reporters come to your Owned Business Lots, browsing your shop, and score it. If you can impress the reporters, they will give you Best Business Award. Reporters don't have fixed uniform, so it's hard to tell who is the actual reporters.
 * Hobby Instructor: Each hobby has its own instructor. Hobby instructors can be met when your Sims gained 5 hobby enthusiasm in a specific hobby, gained maximum hobby enthusiasm, or in the hobby club. You can ask them to instruct hobby in the Secret Hobby Lot.
 * Rod Humble*: Whenever a new family or household moves in (merging family does not count), or the first time the family is played, Rod Humble will appear, deliver a new computer with The Sims 3 game in it, and leave. He will not appear if you are currently living in College Sub-Neighborhood.
 * Spectral Assistants* Both Good and Evil Witches can summon Spectral Assistant, each with different purposes. Good Witches can summon one by using Apello Servantus spell. The Spectral Assistant will help clean the house and garden like maid and gardener. Evil Witches can summon another by using Servantus Attackum. The Spectral Assistant will attack the intended Sim.
 * Spectral Cats: Also known as Feline Familiar. Spectral Cat can be summoned by using Apello Cattus Amicus spell by Witches. The Spectral Cats' alignment depends on the alignment of the caster. Each witch can only summon one spectral cat, and the cat will always be the same if summoned again. Spectral Cats will behave like common cats, with some exception. Such as, they don't have bladder need, can't get a job, don't age, and can't have litter.
 * Santa Klaus*: Often being mistaken as Santa Claus. He will appear if you make fire in fireplace and there's a Santa Cookies in the same room with the fireplace. He will automatically become best friends if your Sims interact with him.
 * Father Time*: When throwing a New Year Bash, Father Time will appear on the sidewalk around 11 PM. He will occasionally make ruckus and other Sims will react to it. At midnight, he will turn into Toddler New Year.
 * Toddler New Year*: The Father Time will eventually turn into Toddler New Year at midnight. Toddler New Year will autonomously smustle dance and fade away.

Other NPCs
Some NPCs only appear as thumbnail and cannot even be met or appear in the game. NPCs in this category is not included in any category above. The NPC with asterisk (*) is NPC who cannot be made selectable or playable.
 * Pollination Technician*: If your adult, male Sim who is 5 days away from elder is abducted by aliens, he will get home impregnated by Pollination Technician and give birth an alien baby. He will appear in the family tree. The Pollination Technician itself is not a real Sim. It's actually a set of genetic which is given to male Sim who impregnate an alien Baby.
 * ideal plantsim*: When your PlantSim spawns a sporebaby, the baby will inherit genetics from the father/mother and ideal plantsim. Like Pollination Technician, ideal plantsim is actually a set of genetic, not an actual Sim.
 * Weather*: Weather is a the weatherman of the forecasting channel in the TV. He predicts the incoming weather that could probably happen. Sometimes the Weather tells some funny jokes, but sometimes is rather resentful.
 * Genie Midlock*: Though Genie can be met in the game, he is hardly any Sim. He grants 3 wishes to your Sim if you have the Dusty Old Lamp whether it succeeds or fails, and leaves. A Gypsy Matchmaker will deliver a Dusty Old Lamp if you're lucky.

Playable NPCs
These NPCs can become playable through many different ways. For a full list of ways to make them playable see Turning a Townie into a Playable Sim.

Service NPCs

The Maid, Repairman, and Babysitter are all service NPCs. Also, a Magician was going to be an NPC, but EA canceled it because of glitches when a Sim had a child with her. In very few cases she will appear.

Emergency NPCs
 * The Police: When a burglar appears on the playable lot and an alarm is installed, they will arrive soon after and fight the burglar, but without an alarm they can be called. However, calling the police when there's no burglar, they will fine the Sim §500.
 * The Fire Department: Sims with a low cooking skill that attempt to cook anything involving an oven or a microwave, sometimes a fire will result. A fire can also be started by lighting a fireplace with flammable objects nearby, or a birthday cake can spontaneously combust. The fire alarm should alert the fire department whenever there is a fire, but they can also be phoned. Prank calling them when there is no fire, will get Sims a §500 fine.

Other NPCs
 * Carpool/Taxi Driver: Typically either a bald man with facial hair in a suit, or a woman with messy hair and a blue jacket, that drives the carpool and/or taxi
 * The Burglar: A burglar appears at night when Sims are sleeping or out on the town. Befriending burglars does not stop them burgling friends. Burglars will be in the Criminal career track, playable sims can also become burglars. The most common burglar in Sunset Valley is Robbie Bland
 * Paper Deliverer: Appears every morning to deliver the papers. Can either be male or female, but is always a child. Also delivers a random book, on Mondays along with the newspaper if a member of the household is a member of the book club.
 * Science Geek
 * Mummy
 * Consignment Specialist: A random Sim (sometimes an NPC or a Townie) in The Sims 3: Ambitions who works at the Consignment store. Since the consignment specialist is a randomly picked Sim, even sims in the neighborhood could work there. If the Consignment Specialist is moved in via Edit Town, he/she loses the job.
 * Mailmen/women: They are the people that deliver the bills in the mail. They are not random sims, they are always premade sims. They also deliver mail.
 * The Pizza Man/Women: Delivers pizza. Often a man called Jack Scott on many neighborhoods such as Twinbrook.
 * Tattoo Artist: A Tattoo Artist is an NPC from The Sims 3: Ambitions. Sims can go to a fashion shop to get tattoos (if there are tattoo artists working there), or to have them removed. Most of time a tattoo artist will be a person that doesn't live in the neighborhood, probably a townie. Tattoo artists always have lots of tattoos on their body.