College students' activities and personality characteristics associated with video game use were studied using existing theories about the effects of television as a framework. A three-part questionnare was given to 275 students enrolled in introductory communication classes at a large, midwestern university to gather data on: (1) the psychological characteristics of anomie (a feeling of helplessness about the world), introversion, right and left brain properties, altruism, and "mean world" or perception of the world as a malevolent place (chosen because the economic nature of video games ensures that players must lose and that most game environments must be malevolent); (2) participation in a variety of non-scholastic activities; and (3) gender, ethnicity, family income, grade point average, age, class standing, and employment status. Correlation patterns across sexes were very different, indicating that video games serve different functions for males and females. For example, females demonstrated more sharing behavior and showed no cultivation or information processing effects. For males, however, a variety of potential negative impacts exist, including cultivation effects, feelings of anomie, and that the world is a mean place. Nineteen references are listed. (LMM)