A lot of you seem to have taken umbrage at the discussion of woman characters in games - well, ok, maybe not a lot of you, but at least Myssss :) - but what about the concept of mechanics that I was trying to talk about on the show?

I realize the following is full of broad generalization (no pun intended) but go with me for a second. If we concede that western civilization grew out of hunter/gatherers that were basically split down gender lines, then one could look at modern video games as a throwback - or modern fulfillment - of those basic roles. That is, men and boys are generally drawn to simulations that allow them to "hunt" (any given shooter or RPG) and women are generally (again, generally) drawn to the types of games that allow them to gather (The Sims, FarmVille).

I wonder how the audience here feels about mechanics in video games as an extension of gender roles rather than simply characters.