I never thought I'd be one of the ones posting a request for help choosing a game like this, but here I am, desperate for ideas. I need a birthday present for my sister, in the form of a PC game.

She has very eclectic taste - she absolutely loves the Sims, she liked Wow, she loved Beyond Good and Evil, she loved Harvest Moon 64, and she enjoyed The Movies. Beyond that, she likes the Zelda games in theory, but never takes the time to sit down and play them. And that's about it. From what I've been able to tell, the aspects of these games that draw her in the most are the characters. She loves the Sims because it's basically playing with people. She gets very attached to her Sims, empathizes with them very well, and actually treats their little lives fairly seriously. I believe that was the same reason she enjoyed Wow - she was creating a character and making it grow in this fantasy environment. Not really role-playing with it, but the same general idea.

I actually believe that this sort of enjoyment is common in female gamers, but this industry is so terrible at catering to them, unless they're already hardcore gamers, that I can't come up with much. I'm at a complete loss.

The only other games I CAN come up with that have these sort of qualities are either not for PC, too intimidating, too time consuming, or otherwise have high barriers of entry for a casual player like her. OR, they're condescending by virtue of the fact that they're pink, and clearly and exclusively aimed at some nebulous "girl" market.

Any suggestions?