In the rush to prepare for the holiday season, my younger sister and I were headed off to the local mall to get some shopping done. On the way in, we stopped at GameStop, like we normally do, to pick up a few games and see whether there were any new releases that merited a purchase. While browsing, my sister realized that she finally wanted to shell out some cash for an XBox 360. This came as no surprise to me, having known her my entire life and knowing that she enjoys many different kinds of games. (She was one of the few people in my childhood that could hand me defeat on a platter while playing classic N64 Perfect Dark. She's also played through all of Final Fantasy VIII and Secret of Mana multiple times. Just to give you a point of reference.)

We talked it over and decided that her best bang for her buck would be the XBox 360 Elite model, which had recently dropped in price. When we went up to the register, we told a sales associate what we wanted and like retail employees do, he attempted to sell us something else. In this case, it was the Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 2 Limited Edition XBox 360 bundle. My sister politely refused, saying that she wasn't interested in playing Modern Warfare 2, to which the sales associate said, "Is it because you're a girl?"

Yes, that was his actual response. Word for word.

While I don't blame the sales associate for trying to sell my sister a more expensive product (it is, after all, his job to do so), I do believe that his gut response is indicative of a larger problem. There is a stigma, even after all these years, that women are incapable of playing video games.

This may not seem like such a big deal. After all, it's not as though we're denying women's right to vote or assuming that their only role is that of caregiver and housewife, but the in the microcosm of video games, the type of game that you play is the be-all-end-all of respect. Male gamers are impressed by women who play video games, especially if it's a shooter or hardcore action game. Admittedly, I've been just as guilty as the sales clerk - one of my best friends, who I assumed had no interest in video games, admitted to me that she has played through the entirety of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion multiple times, and I was completely shocked.

While the gamers themselves are partially to blame for this unfair stigma, much of it seems to do with the type of games that are being released and the roles that women play within them. I'm not specifically speaking about the blatant sexual overtones of many of the women in games (although that's a problem as well - you can read more about it in JW Healy's excellent article here on The Clik, but of the more subtle nods to the sexism that is still incredibly prevalent in all forms of games. For example, games like Cooking Mama and Gardening Mama feature a female protagonist who teaches you how to cook or garden on your DS, many of the protagonists in more action-oriented games are male, with no option to be a female. Even something as innocuous as Scribblenauts or Harvest Moon has no option for a female avatar.

I don't presume to make assumptions about the intent of developers, but according to a recent study and survey, female characters make up a mere 15% of all video game characters. Women make up 38% of all players. Games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero are better at allowing gamers to create their own avatars, but the set lists and downloadable content are skewed to mostly male artists. Band Hero was the first modern music game to prominently and heavily feature a female artist (country singer Taylor Swift) in its ad campaign.

It's difficult to understand why creating a strong female character in games is so hard. Games like Diner Dash seem to do an okay job with it - Flo is a business owner who takes care of all finances and runs an incredibly capable staff to turn a tiny diner into a megamillion dollar franchise. But for every Flo, there are two Cooking Mamas. Perhaps gaming comic VG Cats put it best in detail that makes me wish that "Doctor Mama" and "Executive Mama" actually existed. Then again, is there a reason why games like this can't exist? There are at least as many if not more professional female doctors, educators and executives as there are professional female chefs and gardeners.

All this and more was running through my mind as the clerk continued, only somewhat apologetically, to get my sister's shiny new XBox 360 from the back. The most ironic thing is that she also got a copy of Left4Dead 2, the most recent zombie-killing shooter. While she might not enjoy Modern Warfare 2, she certainly does enjoy sending those undead abominations back to their grave. Maybe the next game in the Mama series should be Apocalypse Mama: Key Survival Tactics for the Impending Zombie Apocalypse. Heck, I'd play that game.