If you want a more hands off approach, then why not try playing around with uncontrollable sims?
I expect that you've heard of them:
There's the Asylum Challenge, where you have one controllable sim (who has an outside job), seven uncontrollable sims, one bathroom, seven places to sleep and no fire alarms. Using only your controllable sim, your aim is to keep the uncontrollable ones alive.
Or there's the I'm Surrounded by Idiots Challenge, a kind of legacy challenge, where you control one sim per generation (subject to a few 'free' controls).
The gameplay can be both amusing and incredibly frustrating, lol.