"The Sims 4," the latest game in EA Maxis' popular life-simulation series, has many things in common with all of its predecessors. One that players particularly appreciate, it turns out, is that -- just as in real life -- there are ways to cheat. And cutting corners may just make your Sims more rich, successful and even likable. But beware: Just as in real life, taking the easy road sometimes comes at a high price.

That has not kept our friends at GameFAQs, however, from compiling a nifty little list of a great number of tricks you can employ in "The Sims 4" if you so choose. In order to enter the commands, just hold down the "Ctrl," "Shift" and "C" keys at the same time. A box will open and prompt you to enter a magic phrase. And voilà: All of a sudden, your Sim will have that unique power you have been craving. Here are some examples of what you can do:

  • You have worked hard and put in those extra hours, but your boss just does not seem to care. No reason to fret, though, as there is a cheat for that: Type in "careers.promote(name of career)" to earn a promotion in your chosen career.

  • So you have made it to chief executive and now feel guilty about all those hardworking co-workers you passed over? Not a problem, either. With "careers.demote(name of career)," you can punish yourself with a demotion in your professional field.

  • Sometimes a little quiet time is all you would really like. Thankfully, you do not have to list to all that Sim talk -- and all those Sim thoughts -- if you do not really want to: The command "hideheadlineeffects on" will disable "all Sim overhead effects, such as plumbob, thought balloons and speech balloons," according to GameFAQs.

  • Feeling a bit more empathetic? Well, if you want to once again know how your Sims are feeling and what they have they have to tell you, just reverse that cheat by typing "hideheadlineeffects off."