Research on violent video games has largely focused on differences in outcomes as a function of violent vs. non-violent games. The current experiment examines the effects of narrative role (hero/villain) of a video game character within a violent game on acceptance of violent behaviors after game play. It was predicted in accordance with social cognitive theory that acceptance of type-specific violence (i.e., lawful or criminal) would interact with the character-role assumed in the game such that acceptance of lawful violence would be higher and acceptance of criminal violence would be lower for participants who played the heroic character than participants who played the villainous character. Results indicate an interaction between the role of a game character and the acceptance of specific types of violence (lawful/criminal) in the opposite direction of what was predicted. This interaction is discussed in terms of a lawfulness effect, whereby lawful violence became more acceptable and criminal violence became less acceptable after playing a villainous character in a video game.