Video Games, Internet Sites Going Political

Oct. 24, 2006 — -- Online games aren't just for entertainment anymore.

"Fantasy Congress" is just one of a host of new online ventures designed to politically engage a digital generation.

"Fantasy Congress" is the brainchild of Andrew Lee, a senior at Claremont McKenna College.

He says the game is not unlike other fantasy sport games. It is designed for users to earn points as their team -- in this case, four senators and 12 House members -- push legislation toward a successful conclusion.

"It's just like fantasy football," Lee said to ABC News, "but instead of drafting football players, you draft members of Congress."

Based on actual legislation making its way through the hallowed halls of Congress, "Fantasy Congress" gives power to the people and allows its users to draft a team of 16 real-life legislators ranging across the congressional spectrum -- i.e., you can't just pick the All-Stars -- to earn points as bills move through Congress and to the president's desk.

"You're gonna have to do some research and try to figure out: Who are the House 'Rookies?' Who are the well-performing people in the bottom-third of the U.S. House of Representatives?" Lee said.

In keeping with the rules of other fantasy sports, members of Congress can be traded on weekends on and off a team's active lineup to most efficiently strategize for the next week.

Where it might differ, say, from "Fantasy Football" is in the length of time it takes for a bill to become a law versus the length of time it takes for a football to travel down the field.

To Lee, the game's goal is to teach.

"If people cared about Congress as much as they cared about football," Lee said, "we'd have a much better-educated populace."

With the presidential election two years away, this election season, catering to a world where the politically minded and Internet-inclined seek online shelter, "Fantasy Congress" is not the first and won't be the last.

For a video-game creator like Randy Chase, engaging interest in politics across new media territories is a been-there, done-that scenario.