Video game design

Tough one. Questions like this always bother me because I really, truly have no problem with supposedly sexist video games. I truly don't care that Lara Croft's body proportions are entirely designed for an ogling male audience, nor do I find it disturbing that female Mortal Kombat characters kill by blowing kisses. . .or something. Maybe this is a cause for concern, but I don't think so. This article reminds me greatly of a women's studies 101 course I took freshman year. What I took away from that class is that feminists need to lighten up. I've never been so thoroughly annoyed with women than I was after I took that class. Seeing as I am a woman, that says a lot. The feminist movement has value, but I get a little disgusted with just how much they read into things.
But let's assume that I do have to design a video without sexist messages. I guess my character would have to be very plain looking. Any emphasis on physical beauty or attractiveness would likely rile the feminists into saying that I'm creating a stereotypical media-constructed image of a woman. Fair enough. So we've got our plain female protagonist (with normal sized breasts and sensible clothing). What does she do? Well, seeing as it's a video game, I suppose she kills things. I can't really think of a popular game that DOESN'T involve killing things. I actually liked the bit in the article that talks about Lara Croft solving puzzles and riddles, etc. So I think that I would like to play up my protagonist's intellect and not just her skill with a machine gun. A nice balance of the two would be an appealing game, I think.
Honestly though, going back to the appearance, I think that's the real problem. Lara Croft was applauded because she was the one doing the ass-kicking, but feminists had problems because of her considerable. . . .err. . . .physical charms. So I think if you had a female character that was doing ass-kicking but had some practical armor rather than too-small shorts, there wouldn't be an issue.