The basic theme of Black & White, and where its name came from, was that you're a god who can be good or evil. You interacted with everything via your godly hand, and you had a giant anthropomorphic pet who did your bidding for you. Your pet had a fairly impressive AI to it, and was one of the major draws of the game.

Using your godly hand, you could do different things via gestures. You could perform miracles, pet or slap your pet, grab objects and villagers, etc. You could throw anything you could grab, including villagers. I found throwing villagers to be a very effective form of stress relief, and much time was spent teaching my pet to throw people and play catch with them. Good times, good times...