Michaela the Secret Agent

Michaela has just moved into her new home in Willow Creek and is now settled down. While the home is comfy, she would like to expand and decorate it, or eventually get something bigger and better. However, to do that she will need Simoleons. Michaela needed a job. So she pulled out her cell phone and checked to see what job openings she could find. Having worked with food in the past, she decided to skip the Culinary career. While there was an opening as a writer’s assistant that could eventually lead to her becoming an author or a journalist, one opening stood out from the rest. It called to her Outgoing and Romantic traits. Though the opening was only for an agency clerk, it was a clerk for an organization of secret agents. So that is what Michaela chose. She would be a secret agent—she just couldn’t tell anyone about it.

Because this career would require her to work on a computer, she decided to spend some of the money she had remaining after her move to set up a place to work in her house. Her living room had some space along one of the walls, so she purchased a desk and a desk chair. Then she looked at computers. While there were some cheaper models, she wanted something that would be more reliable. Though it cost a bit more than she had wanted to spend, she hoped it would be worth it.

After getting her desk and computer set up, Michaela went to bed early. She had to be at work by 7 AM and wanted to be well rested. She was not all that tired, and got up early. Because she still had several hours until work, Michaela used her new computer to browse the intelligence database—her requirement to get promoted. This changed her emotional state from Happy to Focused and after a quick bite to eat, she was off to her first day of work.

While at work, Michaela really wanted to impress her boss on the first day. Because she came Focused and had taken care of all her needs before work, she decided to take risks with her tone. This increased her work performance, but came at a possible cost—she could leave work either Confident or Sad.

Michaela’s risk paid off. Though she was tired at the end of the day, she got her promotion. She was no longer an agency clerk. She was an intelligence researcher. With this promotion, she got a cash bonus, a raise in her hourly pay, and the Swiveler. This was a cool desk chair that she quickly swapped out with her other desk chair. This chair made her look like a secret agent—and when you look like a secret agent, you feel like a secret agent…

Michaela relaxed with a bit of fishing and digging up rocks after work, had some dinner, and took a brisk shower to get Energized. Then she got back onto the computer. For her next promotion, she need to reach level 2 of the Programming skill. So she started with practicing programming and before she went to bed, had completed her assignment.

The next day, Michaela went off to work and decided to work hard this time. This helped her move toward promotion, but her Fun need took a big hit and she came home feeling stressed. She did not get a promotion on the second day of work, but she sure came close. After relaxing for a bit, Michaela made herself some dinner and then enjoyed her meal. Because her home assignment for work was already completed, she decided to relax and take it easy so she could push hard again on Wednesday.

Sure enough, by the time she had finished work Wednesday afternoon, Michaela was now an agent handler. Not only did she get a cash bonus and a raise, but also the Reconnaissance Workstation—a cool new desk to go along with the Swiveler! Her next assignment for promotion was to make three friends and get to level 2 of the Charisma skill. To get the Charisma skill going, she practiced giving a speech in the mirror in her bathroom—not enough to level up, but just to get it in her list of skills. Looking ahead, she realized that secret agents also needed the Fitness skill, so Michaela headed off to the gym to get fit and make friends. She discovered that while on the treadmill, she could also socialize with other Sims. Michaela was pleased that she could be building two skills at the same time.

Michaela’s new position came with a new outfit. Therefore, when she left for work on Thursday morning, she was looking very professional. You have to look the part if you are going to be handling agents. When she got home, she headed off to the park to make some more friends and ended up raising her Charisma skill to level 3.

Friday finally rolled around—the last day of her work week. She had her three friends and her Charisma skill was high enough, so after another day of work she came home with a promotion to field agent. Three promotions in one week was great, but she had put in a lot of work to get this far. Because she had a couple days off, Michaela decided to do some relaxing activities along with some work for her next promotion. She returned to the gym and got her Fitness skill up to level 3. She also worked on her Charisma skill while there and made a new friend (requirements for future levels of promotion). Then she also used her computer to do two hours of intelligence research.

On Monday morning Michaela started her first time as a field agent. While at work, she was interrogating a tough suspect and had to decide whether to play the good cop or the bad cop. She decided to go as the good cop and the decision backfired on her. As a result, when she arrived home, she had an Embarrassed moodlet for a bluffing blunder. However she went back the next day, worked hard, and came home with another promotion. She was now a lead detective and got a Nerves of Steel Desk Lamp as a reward.

To get to her next promotion, Michaela needed to reach level 4 of the Charisma skill and have 5 friends. She could use a break from her usual computer work at home, so she decided to hit the town and traveled to the nightclub. While she was having a good time and fulfilling her Social need, she also leveled up her Charisma and made a couple new friends. That was an enjoyable assignment.

After a couple of days of work, Michaela was promoted to government agent and received a Tactical Map. Looking ahead, she needed to increase her Fitness skill to level 5 and Programming skill to level 3. While she was working on her Programming skill, her computer broke down. Luckily, Michaela was able to fix it and learn the Handiness skill along the way. The next day after work, she decided to visit the gym in Oasis Springs and worked out to get her Fitness skill up.

The weekend over, Michaela headed back to work. It took three days but she was finally promoted to secret agent on Wednesday. This unlocked the Hidden Bookcase Door, which she could use when she built a secret room onto her house. When she got home, she started working on her new assignments and used her computer to investigate three different Sims. She had already increased her Charisma skill to level 5 over the weekend; she just needed to put in some more time at work to get another promotion.

By continuing to work hard, Michaela was promoted again. However, this time, she need to decide which branch of secret agent she would follow. While the Villain branch seemed interesting, Michaela felt the Diamond Agent branch was a better fit. As a new spy captain, she got a Spy Satellite to attach to the outside of her house. Michaela also got a nice black dress for her work outfit. To get to the next promotion, she needed to get both Fitness and Charisma skills up to level 7.

Michaela continued to work on her skills and tried jogging because this would not only help with her Fitness skill, but also improve her emotions as it fulfilled her Loves Outdoors trait. One day at work, she was named Superspy of the Millennium and had an opportunity to thank only one person for helping her achieve it—either her trainer or her nemesis. She went with her trainer and this gave her a performance boost at work—just enough to get her another promotion. This came with an Information Database as a reward.

As a shadow agent, she was at level 9 in her career. She was only one promotion away from the top. To get this, she needed eight friends as well as level 8 for both Charisma and Fitness skills. By this time in her skill level, Michaela could actually work on Charisma on her computer, with her work area at home all spy-themed to help her stay in the zone. Finally, after a lot of hard work, Michaela was promoted to double diamond agent. While she still had to go to work three days a week, she did not have any more assignments to do at home and could focus on herself and some hobbies—which she now had some time to do. Maybe she would work on that Fishing skill or find some frogs. Because she loved the outdoors, Gardening might be a good skill to develop. Plus, she was making a lot more money, and it might be time to move into a larger house. And if she then got bored, Michaela could always quit and start a new career.

Career Status When you open the Career window in the screen’s lower right corner, you see a meter that goes from red on the left side to dark green on the right. This is the status meter for your current level of your career. When you begin a new job, or get promoted to a new level, the indicator arrow is positioned right in the middle of the meter. Working at a Normal tone will advance the indicator to the right toward the dark green a bit. Working Hard will move that indicator even more to the right. On the other hand, if you Take It Easy or select another tone with reduced work effort, the indicator will usually stay in the same place. Showing up late for work can move the indicator a bit toward the left, but if you work normally it should come back to its starting position. However, if you don’t show up for work at all on one day, that indicator will move almost an entire colored segment to the left—from light green to orange—in a single day. If that indicator gets into the red and then moves all the way to the far left side of the meter, your Sim will be fired.