Guns, drugs and cop killing came first.

Now, the great debate about video game content is showing some school spirit.

Games and violence in schools have been mentioned in the same discussions for years. But the material in the new video game "Bully" - which includes fighting on school grounds - comes at the time when the region is still reeling from the massive Fontana High School riot, and the sensitivity to school violence and bullying in the United States is steadily rising.

It's taken a while for bullying to really be looked at as a serious problem in this country, said Joseph Wright, executive director of National Children's Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

"Ballpark, I'd say we're 30 years behind" other countries, he said. "As a society, we've grown up with an acceptance of bullying. That kind of attitude among adults has been the biggest hurdle."

That kids-will-be-kids viewpoint is even wired into the thinking of many authority figures in schools, said Howard Spivak, director of the Tufts University Center for Children in Massachusetts and chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Task Force on Violence.

"We're in a culture that supports it - it's not just the bully and the victim, but the environment,

the bystanders. It gets attention, and attentio is like money," he said. "I've even had teachers - good teachers - tell me that bullying is just a part of growing up."

But that mentality is starting to change, said Susan Limber, a developmental psychologist and researcher at the Clemson University Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life in South Carolina. Limber works with the national Stop Bullying Now! prevention campaign and is working to institute anti-bullying programs across the United States.

"We just know more about it now," she said. "Some things about bullying haven't changed at all, but one thing that's changed is the awareness to the problem. Columbine played a big part with that in terms of bringing public attention to it."

And that attention has led to the fury surrounding this latest release from Rockstar - which also made the famed (and vilified) "Grand Theft Auto" series.

Since its announcement more than a year ago, "Bully" has been in the critical crosshairs of politicians and activists, many of whom wanted the game to be banned. It's been denounced as everything from a teaching tool for teen violence to a "Columbine simulator." Florida attorney Jack Thompson, a longtime critic of the video game industry, petitioned to halt the shipping of the game. However, a judge later ruled the game could hit store shelves as planned.

"I think the original reports of the game made it out to be something much more violent. The theme was revenge, much like in the Columbine school shootings, and there was a lot of concern about that," said David Walsh, director of the National Institute on Media and the Family. "The responsible thing to do is wait and see. If we see it and feel the need to alert people, then we'll do that."

The game puts players in the role of 15-year-old Jimmy Hopkins, portrayed as a classic anti-hero who metes out a vigilante style of justice to anyone who crosses him - and many times, those who can't help themselves - within the fictional realm of Bullworth Academy, a notoriously nasty reform school.

At Jimmy's disposal are items ranging from an upgradable slingshot (with a scope-style aiming sight) to stink bombs to itching powder. More contemporary (and goofier) weapons include the nerd-made bottle-rocket launcher and the potato gun.

But such an arsenal is designed for entertainment purposes in the virtual world.

The reality of bullying was faced by Sean Burke, 18, who graduated from Rancho Cucamonga High School in June and is now a student at San Joaquin Valley College. In elementary school, Burke, a large kid with early acne at the time, was a prime target.

"They would take their hand, turn it upward and like, jam(in italics) it into my stomach," he said. "I was called every possible derogatory name an overweight kid could be called. They never, ever let up."

Burke said some of that changed when he eventually stood up to one of his tormentors, who was half his size - but also a black belt.

"I'd reached this point where I just had enough," he said. "He tried to like, come at me, and when he did ... I ended up almost breaking his wrist," he said.

When he got to high school, Burke said he saw some "terrible" things happen to other kids, some of whom were his friends.

Burke remembers one time when a much smaller kid - just a shade over 5 feet tall - was approached by a group of jocks who threatened to toss him over a high railing.

"This was after school, when nobody was there,' he said. "They threatened him, then they picked him up - and his head and torso were actually over the rail. But they never dropped him. It was scary."

Those kinds of real-life experiences have damaging effects, said Limber of Clemson University.

"The short-term issues are depression, problems with self-esteem and even some health issues," she said. "You'll even have kids who miss school to avoid bullying."

Burke said one friend he knew ended up missing school for three straight months, feigning illness just to avoid being harassed. He also said some other kids talked about moving to other cities.

"I told him, You can't do this, you have to stand up for yourself.' But he just stayed home."

However, Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family said today's Columbine-raised school dynamic is much different than the days of the occasional swirlie and wedgie.

"Bullying isn't new. What's new is the culture in which it's happening," Walsh said. "The norms have changed. The extremes are more extreme - with the old norm, the extreme was a punch in the nose. But if the norm is now Make my day,' then the extreme could be much more tragic."