This study explores the various ways in which male young adults engage with violence in video games. Based on an ethnographic study (N = 26) with triangulation of diary reports, focus group interviews and a video commentary model, three conceptual axes are distinguished along which players differ in their enactment of video game violence: narration versus action, discovery versus mission-based play and reaction versus strategic play. The results suggest that individual playing styles result in exposure to different quantities and a different quality of virtual violence.