First off what would the purpose of other video games be if you could do everything with your sims in any sims game? and? do some of you create your sim in other video games like in a shooting game or murder mystery game or vice versa

2nd off are some of you interested in living your sims life at work. Or? does the sims 4 let you live out this fantasy with your sims? speak up please. In The SIms 2 Open For Business expansion pack for the Sims 2 for example. You can have your sims run a Bakery or even a Restaurant, or any kind of store both as a manager/boss or owner or as a family employee or home business of any kind and you can control them like restocking, taking a break or using the cash register as an example. You can even buy community lot a park but need to spend time on upkeep.

I wish I could mow the grass now that would be cool but the grass does not grow in the sims 2 only weeds will spawn from bushes on the lot or dog or cat pee

and bushes will occasionally need trimming and you can't hire a default Gardner on a business lot but? but you can hire one of your neighborhood sims or NPC's as a handyman through a phone or computer and then assign them the clean up lot as their job, but, and you even can increase or decrease their salary and assign their work uniform. But does the that ancient Open For Business Expansion pack for the sims 2 really scratch that itch for those who want to play/control or see your sims working at work?

Or do you want more?

Or does has EA done more with what The SIms 3 or 4 with what they did with the sims 2, I don't know because I never played the sims 4.

I am half and half on this one because techcally some jobs do let you see your sims in the sims 2 like working as a downtown DJ booth or bar or coffee shop, or even at a homeless shelter aka a free to eat location in the cafe by placing the Shiny TIme stove from the University Life Expansion at certain community lots

Chris Hatch made a mod that lets you accompany your sims to work or school. I have no idea where his stuff is posted now or I'd link it. Anything Sims 4 can do we can do better? XD

I haven't played my sims in another game, but I have done the reverse. When a zombie game I was playing on Facebook shut down I gave my main char a break by making her a sim. Also my Sims Social char, but technically that was a Sims game.

All sims 2 jobs are rabbitholed and you have to wait until your sim gets done with work. You can start your own business, buy and build your own lot and work from there and even start a home business. That's where OFB comes into play. As far as a sims 4 get to work style of play there is Chris Hatch's mod which in a way simulates GTW..
But I agree with Charity anything the sims 4 can do, we can do better.

I'm more of a storyteller, so I don't generally give my sims actual TS2 jobs, I just write the jobs into the story and cheat their money. Can't have them wandering off the lot for several hours... Back when I used to play more family-style, it depended on the family. Sometimes I'd have one sim working (I hated having to use a nanny), occasionally both, but usually regular careers. I've also had sims run several OFB businesses going on over the years.

TS2 OFB careers are a lot more "do whatever you want, there are *some* rules, but have fun figuring them out" - which gives you a lot of freedom to explore. If you're selling stuff, you have to work for the reputation, and you gotta use your noggin' a bit to figrue out what's the best approach. Getting a 5-star business takes time. The fun thing is - you can pretty much set up any kind of business you like. Want to sell stuff from buy menu? Sure. DIY projects? Absolutely! Activities? Sell tickets. Run the business alone? Good luck. Family business? Sure, go ahead! Hiring people? That's okay, too. But you have to keep people happy, both the employees and customers, and that's not always easy. There aren't prompts that tell you exactly what to do to get a gold star. You can tell how satisfied the customers are, and whether your employees are about to run for the hills, but that's about it. And that's fine. Hand-holding isn't necessary.

Haven't tried out any CC active careers in TS2, but it's nice that there are options (and creative CC-makers/modders). A lot of them seem very interesting.

I only have GTW and C&D in TS4 so I can't speak for the later careers other than what I've seen on playthroughs, but in TS4 the active careers tend to have a very same-y feel to them when you've played through a couple or so times. They're not particularly difficult, and require very little thinking - follow the prompts and eventually you get a promotion. I guess the freelance ones like selling things might be a bit more challenging, depending on the rules you set for yourself. The sims just seem to buy everything you're selling, no matter the pricing, no matter what it is, no questions asked (a million simoleons? No problem!). Whenever they launch a new career or "go to X with your sim" kind of option, it looks good on paper, but looking at playthroughs I get the feel it's just a shell of what it could've been. Honestly, GTW isn't too bad, considering there were 3 careers, retail, and an alien planet all packed into one EP, and now you barely get half a feature per EP... I'll revisit the medical and science career once in a while, just for fun. Occasionally the vet career, too. This tends to scratch that "itch" for watching sims work.

I played TS3 for a while, but it's been so long I can hardly remember all the active careers. Firefighter, ghost hunting and medical, probably a few more. I think I prefer the TS4 medical over the TS3 one, because the TS3 was mostly rabbit hole with the occasional active bit. Firefighter and ghost hunting were quite similar - put out/catch 5 fires/ghosts, maybe save a sim or two. Fine I guess, but most of the time between fire alarms it was just hang around on the fire station doing "nothing much".

Both TS3 and TS4 active careers have the "same-y" feel to them, in that once you've done the careers a couple times the hand-holding does get a bit tedious, and you very quickly see that the careers are built in the same format, with the variation mostly being cosmetical.

I would still play other games. A limited, scripted game like Stardew Valley gives my mind a break from the constant planning I do with Sims 2. It is predictable and therefore very relaxing. I also play Rimworld. However Rimworld has violence, danger and mechanoids, is set in a hostile world and it's pawns can be cannibals and nudists. They carry guns, knives and explosives. Very different from the world of Sim Suburbia. Other games provide entertainments that the Sims cannot cover.

As to your second question, all my Sims eventually end up working in active functional jobs where you can interact with them. I do this by using mods that allow them to pay each other directly as well as take time off work with no penalty. Each Maxis job eventually has it's own building that they can go to. Same for each Maxis hobby, using the basic grouping system. The structure of Sims 2 allows you to do much of this with just the vanilla game and expansion packs. Freetime allows you to sell pottery, Pets allows you to start selling animals. Season you can grow food and catch fish to sell. Nightlife gives you options to create cinemas for pay. Bon Voyage allows you to set up a spa.

But once you start using mods, the only limit is your imagination. One of my favourite professions was private investigator (modded job). Mods allowed him to sneak around, scavenge dustbins, and look in people's inventories. He had a big case, investigating the stolen objects (modded stealables) from the local museum. He also specialised in providing photographs (maxis) of adulterous activity (usually caused by ACR) I've had mining operations, private beaches, contribution-funded churches, community clinics, hospitals, prisons and schools. My local author has books in the library and bookshops around town and spends time schmoozing local residents at book signings, library events and book clubs. Nobody ever makes home improvements without consulting and paying the architect first. The local doctor can actually do home visits. (maxis or modded)

All this is available to me due to the talent of the modders for Sims 2. I can pay people directly. I can stop my sims from going to their normal maxis job. I can access inventories on community lots. I can use computers to create office jobs. I have never played Sims 4, (got it for free) but from the scripted nature of its goals and jobs that I have seen on youtube, it does not interest me. I am used to the freedom that I have with a fully modded Sims 2. Even without the mods, Sims 2 is still fantastic at allowing your sims to work from home and turn community businesses into functional playable lots.