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Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is a popular fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) that has been enjoyed by millions of players since its creation in the 1970s. The game is played by a group of players, each of whom takes on the role of a character in a fantasy world. The players work together to complete quests, overcome obstacles, and defeat monsters while a "Dungeon Master" (DM) manages the story and controls the non-player characters (NPCs). In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in using D&D and other tabletop RPGs as a form of mental health therapy. This is because the game can provide a safe and supportive environment for players to explore and express their emotions, work on personal issues, and build social skills. Tabletop RPGs can help foster personal growth in several ways: Problem-solving, Decision-Making, Emotional Intelligence, Communication, Creativity, Self-Esteem, and even Confidence. Mental health professionals have begun incorporating Tabletop RPGs into their sessions as a way to engage their clients in a fun and interactive way and it should be used in conjunction with other forms of treatment.

Working therapeutically with video gamers has almost entirely consisted of an overshadowing addiction perspective. This undoubtedly leads any therapist working with video gamers to assume they are addicted, further guiding treatment into a reduction or complete termination of all video games. To date, there are no known uses of video games in a clinical setting as therapeutic tools. This case study illustrates use of Archetypal and Jungian therapies prescribing video games for a 10-year-old male diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Video games were utilized as a main form of inclusion and immersion playability. He experienced a reported improvement in his symptoms across his environments. Parental involvement, therapist’s knowledge of video game worlds, and using video games’ heroic motifs were critical to the client’s understanding of himself. If an addiction lens had been utilized, the client may not have been successful. Through this comprehensive study, the research will showcase that clinicians should aim to think outside of the addiction lens while working with video gamers. As therapists are presumed to be experts in communication, it makes sense to utilize the language of the video game world to communicate and understand where the client may be presently situated. Utilizing this immersive experience opens the door for a more collaborative therapy, increasing communication about video games, playing, and extrapolating players’ experiences into real life contexts.

This research explored personality traits of video gamers utilizing the Big Five Inventory (BFI) totaling 19,416 video gamer participants across seven genres of video game play. The purpose was to uncover personality differences among the different preferred genres of video gamers. Different personality profiles were explored by employing t-tests and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Mapping of the BFI elements of video gamers across video game genres was conducted using latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify video gamer personality profiles, personality formations across preferred genres of play, examine the pattern of relationships among the variables, and to determine whether different personalities gravitate to specific genres of play. Results found four distinct and different personality profiles: Introversive, Extroversive, Secure Ambiversive, and Insecure Ambiversive; indicated no support for the different classification of video gamers possessing statistically different personality traits (i.e. causal, regular, hardcore); or different genres of video game play did have different personality types playing each genre. As such, evidence is provided for different personalities gravitating towards different genres of play and Carl Jung’s (1921) idea of the introversion/extroversion continuum. Limitations observed were some findings becoming statistically significant with small effect sizes and the BFI possibly not being nuanced enough to detect smaller personality traits. Strengths were the large participant base, generalizability of the study to the video gamer population, and this study providing a basis for personality playing a role in virtual worlds.

We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 448 traits across 28,640 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological attributes (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised individual- and species-level measurements coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties and experimental conditions. This article provides information on version 3.0.2 of AusTraits which contains data for 997,808 trait-by-taxon combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data, which also provides a template for other national or regional initiatives globally to fill persistent gaps in trait knowledge., Measurement(s)plant traitTechnology Type(s)digital curationSample Characteristic - OrganismViridiplantaeSample Characteristic - LocationAustralia Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14545755

Bean, A.R. (Queensland Herbarium, Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Queensland 4068) 1998. A revision of Baeckea (Myrtaceae) in eastern Australia, Malesia and south-east Asia. Telopea 7(3): 245–268. All species from eastern Australia, Malesia and south-east Asia belonging to Baeckea sens. str. are listed with full synonymy, distribution maps and notes on habitat. Baeckea stenophylla F. Muell. is reduced to synonymy under B. frutescens L. Three new species from Queensland and New South Wales are described and illustrated: Baeckea trapeza, Baeckea omissa and Baeckea kandos; and the new combination B. latifolia is made, based on B. gunniana var. latifolia Benth. Keys are provided for the identification of the genera of Subtribe Baeckeinae and for all species of Baeckea from eastern Australia, Malesia and south-east Asia. A list of excluded names for this region is given.