As video games have risen dramatically in popularity over the past few decades, so has criticism of the messages they're sending kids. But for the most part, that concern has been directed at the violence in games marketed to boys. Today, though, half of girls ages 8 to 12 play games online, according to a recent study — which means it's about time time we start looking at the games for girls and the lessons they teach. And they're not good: The most popular games among those tween girls surveyed centered on themes like cooking, shopping, makeup, and boys — and portray a world of limited, dead-end choices.

To see what these games are really like, I spent a few days playing some on my iPhone and on the computer. Clearly, I'm not the target demographic for these games — I'm more than 10 years older than the intended audience and I'm not a big-time gamer. But what I found was even worse than I expected: not only are the games pretty poorly designed and uncreative in their storylines, they also teach misguided values. Many of the games taught that romantic partners should be rich and buy you things; that shopping for pricey clothes is the way to get ahead; and that stereotypically female jobs and activities, like working at a fashion magazine or baking, are the only options for girls. This isn't the way to go about raising the next generation of strong, empowered women.

For years parents and the media have made noise about violent games targeted at boys in the same age group, but far fewer adults seem to know — or care — about the games that young girls play now.

I started out with GirlsGoGames's most popular shopping game, Shopaholic — which the company says has been played 163 million times on a variety of platforms, including the iPhone. (GirlsGoGames is one of the biggest producers of free online games for girls; it's owned by Spil Games, which also creates games for families and teens, and which commissioned the study about girls and gaming.) The premise of the game is to walk around "Paris," "New York," and "Hawaii," and buy items that the game specifies. For example, when a pink sparkly top pops up on the screen, the game prompts you to buy it and take a "photo" of you character wearing it, for which you'll be rewarded $15. As another means of acquiring money, you can also get a "job" — like working at an ice cream shop for two hours — but the labor requires nothing more than waiting two hours for your "shift" to end. It is hard though, to be motivated to "work," since your virtual "credit card" is automatically replenished with $500 each day, simply for existing. Can we get this feature added to the real world?