Today there was a hearing convened by the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet (a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee) on the potentials and policy concerns raised by virtual worlds. Archives of the hearing are here. An MP3 of the proceedings can be found here. Many news reports about the substance here.
Mike Musgrove of the Washington Post says:
Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) probably got the best quips out, joking that some people already think Congress is a virtual world, and that Markey was throwing the event merely to learn how to get to the next level in World of Warcraft.