Not necessarily. I play a video game called CS:GO. Sometimes I am forced to play on the terrorist side (competitive mode requires that you play on both the counter-terrorist and terrorist sides at least once). Playing on the terrorist team, I have to murder counter-terrorists (immoral act in real life) and plant a bomb to blow up a site without objectively good reason (also an immoral act). However, I don’t commit a sin because the act of planting a bomb in a simulated environment is not a sin in itself. I’m not tempted to re-enact these actions in real life and I’m in no way encouraging people to become terrorists and go out and plant actual bombs, so no sin of scandal here either (it’s a different case, however, if a friend was with me and I verbally expressed my desire to become like “one of the terrorists in this game!” This would be scandal)
The Sims case is much more tricky. While I don’t THINK it is a sin to do the act just to get XP points and level up faster because you aren’t intending on lusting, it MIGHT be a sin of scandal if someone finds out you did this. There is a possibility that the person might be scandalised and think “hey, JellyBeanMuffin, a Catholic did this, so she must think sex before marriage is ok!” So while clicking a button and causing a couple in The Sims to have pre-martial sex may not be a sin in itself, it might be a sin if it causes you to lust (which I don’t think is the case for you, since you did mention you were doing it for the points and also implied you weren’t intending on lusting over it)and/or if it causes scandal.
Magic in a video game isn’t necessarily sinful either. It might be, though, if the game involves loads of demonic symbols, gory sacrifices, overly the top demonic rituals etc. If it’s something like playing as a Mage (like a character from Lord of the Rings) then I don’t THINK it’s sinful in itself at all.
Same goes for stealing in video games: it isn’t necessarily sinful.
The key thing to note here is circumstances. Eg if you steal in a video game as it’s part of the storyline of your character i wouldn’t judge it as sinful VS you steal in a video game to practice how to become a thief in real life; I would regard the latter case as sinful.
Again, this is just how I see it. It’s best to check with a Priest who can give much better advice and direction.
Core Message: Doing sinful acts in video games aren’t necessarily sinful. It all depends on the circumstances (eg your intentions in doing so, might it affect you negatively, might it cause scandal etc)
Please clarify with a Priest and present him with the full situation, as none of us here has the full perspective and picture regarding your situation..
