SIMS

"The Sims are not and should never be avatars, as they were in the online game. The Sims were born to be surrogate slaves to our dreams and fantasies," says Gonzalo over at Ludology.org.

"What if I could create my own little world and all the people in it and watch them go through their business and jump in and change things when I want," asks Rod Humble in the linked NYT review.