Sims want to feel fulfilled. Their dreams and goals define their lives. These aspirations are communicated to you through wishes. The essentials of wishes were covered in the previous chapter. Once a wish is fulfilled, it adds Lifetime Happiness Points to your Sim’s total.
There are two types of wishes: Lifetime Wishes and regular wishes. The Lifetime Wish is an overarching dream that gets assigned in the Create a Sim tool. Regular wishes are the day-to-day goals that are met by doing smaller things, like achieving certain skill levels, getting promotions, buying objects, or socializing with specified Sim.
The Sims 3 eGuide Essentials Wishes