Much of the news regarding Sen. Sam Brownback's (R-KS) proposed legislation regarding video game ratings has been focused on Brownback's plan to require the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) to play each game it reviews to completion, which sure would take a long time. Currently, the ESRB doesn't play ANY of the games it reviews and instead relies on the developers and publishing to submit video of the game play to the board (see the recent blog entry on author Aaron Ruby's criticism of the ESRB).

But the real kicker here is Brownback's Truth in Video Game Rating Act will
bring the video game industry under federal government regulation. First, the
bill would give the U.S. Federal Trade Commission control over describing and
defining video game content. The second and even more chilling proposal will
give the Government Accountability Office (GOA) the authority to evaluate the
ERSB ratings and, if the GOA disagrees with its findings, the potential to
create an "independent" ratings board - and I write "independent" because it
will have no financial interest or ties to the video game industry but will
apparently be a government controlled body.

This is troubling because video games are the current boogyman for Congress - as
opposed to, I dunno, Osama Bin Laden - and video game legislation is gaining bi-
partisan support from the like of Sen. Hilary Clinton (D-NY). I'm astonished how
quickly Republicans will turncoat from their anti-regulation free market
platform when they find a divisive business issue they can portray as a social
crisis. Similarly, I'm astonished that Democrats can't find something better to
do that to demonize video games. While I think the ESRB's system for rating
games is laughably bad, excessive government regulation and censorship isn't the
answer for this or any other matter. But that sure looks like this is where
we're headed.

For further reading, check out the excellent href="www.gamepolitics.com">GamesPolitics.com.