Of the three new skills introduced with World Adventures, this is the one that is logically associated with China. Best achieved by those with the Disciplined Trait, learning the ancient martial art of Sim Fu cannot be done without access to equipment that can only be bought in China.

This is Terence Norman taken part of the way during his training. He lives in Elba Village and is an unemployed single parent with two teenage daughters. His lifetime wish is to become a Martial Arts Master. Reaching this lofty goal is easier said than done, however. Firstly, he would need to have mastered the skill of Martial Arts and secondly, he would need to have successfully sparred with and beaten enough competitively-ranked opponents to be ranked as a Grand Master.

Terry's quest began with his first trip to China. Following some basic training at the Academy, he got his white belt. He then spent time at the Scholar's Garden and instead of going back and forth to the base camp that was on the far side of the Forbidden City, he based himself at the Resolute Fist Retreat that was only a short distance up the path.

Before his first trip came to an end, he went to the bookstore in the market to buy a book about the basics of Martial Arts. He then went to the general store to get a training dummy and a block breaker. The book remained in his inventory but the other two were shipped home and were found in the shared family inventory when he got back.

As he now had these training tools at home, he was able to continue his training. In time, his daughters both became interested and this gave them all some non-competitive sparring practice. Having risen quite quickly, Terry returned to Shang Simla to continue his training and got his first black belt. While he was in China, he took the opportunity to do some competitive sparring and managed to start to rise the competitive ladder. He even became very well acquainted with one of his opponents. Love may be in the air as well as martial arts success.

At the time of writing, Terry has already received his certificate of attainment for the skill but he has a Level 2 Ranking in Competitive Sparring but he has quite a few levels to rise through in order to become a Grand Master and achieve that lifetime wish.

Unskilled sims practice in the clothes that they are wearing when they begin their training. At this stage, they can only learn using the book or the training dummy in order to advance. However, once they have reached Level 1, they are given a white uniform with a white belt and can now improve their skill level through sparring.

In order to spar on a non-competitive level, your sim just needs to click on someone who has some skill and select "spar". They will find enough room, change into their outfits and spar until someone has won two bouts.

Upon achieving Level 2, sims can wear a yellow belt. They can also use the Board Breaker. There are different types of board ranging from foam boards to oak boards to space rocks in order of difficulty. Board-breaking above one's ability results in a sore hand.

A lot of wishes can come up relating to the breaking of boards. If a sim breaks more than 150 boards of either oak or higher, they get the special skill classification of being a Timber Terminator. This gives them a good chance of finding rare space gems when breaking space rock blocks. In this image on the right, it appears that Terry has been breaking a lot of space rocks lately.

Once a sim has reached Level 3, they can wear the orange belt.

At Level 4, they graduate up to a green belt. They keep the same coloured belt at Level 5 but they can now use Meditation as another way to improve their skill.

Meditation is a useful way to work on the skill, even when the sim is fatigued or sore. It also provides a good moodlet. If a sim meditates for long enough, they are able to hover in an ethereal glow and can "zeneport" - teleport using zen - to anywhere on the map. Having this skill level can be very useful indeed.

When they get to Level 6, they can wear the blue belt and they keep this coloured belt and outfit when they reach Level 7. However, once they have reached this level, they are able to train other martial artists on improving their skill.

At Level 8, they are awarded a brown belt. They come a black belt in Sim Fu when they reach Level 9, the belt colour remains the same when they reach Level 10 but they are also given a black outfit with gold trim.

However, although there is nothing stopping you from using create-a-style to customise it. Actually, there is nothing to stop sims at any level doing this to customise their uniforms.

As with the other skills in The Sims 3, there are skill challenges for those using the Martial Arts skill and want to gain some further benefits.

1. A Grand Master can teach sims more effectively. To pass this challenge, they need to have reached the 5th Level in the competitive tournament rankings. This is what Terence Norman needs to achieve in order to get the lifetime wish.
2. A Master of Meditation can zeneport at ease. To pass this challenge, they need to have meditated for a total of 150 hours.
3. A Sim Fu King wins most sparring contests with ease. To pass this challenge, they need to have participated in 75 sparring matches. This is a useful challenge to have passed as I see it being helpful in rising in the competitive ranks and thereby becoming a Grand Master.
4. A Timber Terminator has a knack for discovering valuable gems when splitting Space Rocks. To pass this challenge, they need to have broken at least 150 boards of Oak or greater toughness. In my opinion, this is one of the easier challenges to pass especially considering the amount of wishes related to board breaking that seem to come along.

Personally, I find that working on this skill is rewarding and challenging at the same time. I would like to have been able to report that Terry had reached his goal, but until he can get his visa status up and get more sparring experience, he cannot stay long enough to make serious progress. I reckon that is part of the factor that makes us want to send our sims back to the same country.