He's always been fairly curious. He loved to do new things or read books he couldn't understand. It was so fun just trying to figure things out on his own or asking his parents a million questions (since they were the smartest people he knew).
Not very good anymore. Going through high school, Ben had people that picked on him sometimes, said hurtful things, and called him names. It bugged him, but he had friends that would boast him up and not let it get to his head. Now it's as if everyone thinks he's a fuck-up and it's gotten to him. No one's there anymore to help. He just has to deal with everything on his own now, and it's affected his way of thinking entirely.
Basically, when his sister whines, which she would do at the drop of a hat. Her favorite thing was saying, 'oh my gaaaaaaaawwd' as loudly and as long as possible.
A good portion of his friends were gamers. Ben wasn't really, but he usually had a great time playing games with them. Sometimes they were jerks, using his lack of knowledge to their advantage and other times they'd talk him through things so he could properly enjoy it. He's glad for those times.
