That's just it, to me I don't really feel like I'm "shooting" the pictures (most of the time). I think the sim aspect of the game (meaning that you're writing something from a game you're actively playing while writing--at least that's how it is for me) is where the confusion/blurring comes in. We joke that the little pixel people are actors but they're really not (in the case of the more "write as you go" folks).

Add to that "write as you go" feeling the fact that you are (for the most part) writing to a niche market (if you will) and it feels more like I'm simply documenting what's going on. Since the niche market is aware of some of the limitations of the sim medium, I play with the pictures more to keep them from being too repetitive then out of any sense of artistry (that's my major motivation--keeping myself from being bored).

(oh, and back to your original point, I do agree that the serial nature of sims stories--with their picture dependancy--does give them a comic vibe)