Within this body of research, the current thesis demonstrates that a) inducing empathy before playing a violent video game can have both expected and contradictory effects and that b) a scale of media-based empathy facilitates and revises the measurement of empathy in the media context. Consuming violent media is neither a sufficient nor a necessary factor to explain violent behavior in media users. Instead, it is only one factor among others. However, this thesis claimed to consider empathy

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... only as a conditional pertinent protective factor when using media (i.e., empathy induction; Manuscript #1 & #2), but also as a general disposition in users (i.e., MBE; Manuscript #3). Contrary to suggestions by other research groups (e.g., Mar, Oatley, & Peterson, 2009), individual differences in media-based empathy may indeed be responsible for empathic reactions to fictional media use. The general pattern of relationships suggests, that even though similar to traditional empathy, MBE is a unique trait variable and reflects independent components of empathy (e.g., immersion in video games). Based on our current understanding, MBE examines a yet underappreciated personality trait in media users and thereby contributes to the research of media use and media effects. Moreover, empathy with a media protagonist is no longer only considered a determinant of the entertainment experience (see Ritterfeld & Jin, 2006; Zillmann, 1991). Instead, a short, modest text- or clip-based empathy induction before game play can influence the effects of playing video games. While this approach has been tested for other factors before (e.g., activated self; Jin, 2011), this thesis explores the impact of experimentally induced empathy in the video game context for the first-time. In other words, focusing on the own character or adding emotiona [...]