Here's another big reason why the video game industry needs to fight this tooth and nail.
Remember rap in the 90s? Cop Killa, Ice T, senate hearings... What came of it? 2 Live Crew kinda got screwed, but ultimately the music industry escaped unscathed and rap lives on.
Now look at the comics industry in the 50s. They bent over and took it up the ass with The Comics Code Authority, ensuring only those familliar with the underground could ever read an R. Crumb comic. The comic industry has been irrelevant to popular culture for a long time. Who knows what would've happened if it hadn't been forever cemented with the perception that it was a mere child's diversion, and creativity had been allowed to flow.
The videogame industry caved in too far and too early in the 90s. Look how pathetic the music industry's "parental advisory" is compared to movie and video game ratings. Now if the video game critics aren't happy with the ESRB they'll replace it by a government operated ratings board. They hoped caving in totally and creating a self-regulated ratings board would satisfy the opportunistic politicions, but it only bought them time.
Videogames are only the boogeyman of the moment. The industry only needs to hold off the Clintons and Liebermans long enough until they go back to hounding the movie, music, or hopskotch industry, or whatever passtime they think is corrupting children.
