Bypassing the Launcher

There are many reasons people want to bypass the game launcher. Whatever your reason, it is quite easy to accomplish with just a few clicks.

Summary

Navigate to the drive on which you have installed your game.
If you are playing just the base game, the .exe file will be found in program files/electronic arts/sims3/game/bin. It is named TS3.exe.
If you are playing an expansion pack you will use the .exe file for the latest expansion pack you are playing. eg: program files/electronic arts/Sims 3 World Adventures/Game/Bin - find the TS3EP01.exe file. I will assume that subsequent EPs will follow the same numbering system: TS3EP02, TS3EP03 etc.
Right click the .exe file and chose Send to>desktop (create shortcut). In the future, use that shortcut to launch your game.