How odd he is

Exhibit A:
Frankie is still obsessed with W*rld of W*rcraft. When he isn't playing it he is talking about it or reading about it. I mean really. If you start a conversation about something else he will talk about that, at least for a while. If you pause though he will probably say something like, "I want to get my character new armour. What do you call those things that over the bottom of your leg, but not the top?"

Now being 15 or 10 and obsessed with a video game is not outside the normal range of behavior.
But the combination of being obsessed with it, being really bad at it and not getting better even though he keeps playing is mystifying to me. I have trouble understanding how the obsession continues when he does poorly.

This is what happens: he creates a character who has strengths in the areas that he previous character did not.* He then goes out on his own, perceiving that none of the other characters like him, and hunts down beasties. He spends his money recklessly, takes on beasties he is not strong enough to defeat, and ends up with a character who is low on health and has no money. This character having failed him, he deletes it and creates a new one.

And makes the same sort of mistakes again.

And again.

This is called "perseverating," right?

It's just odd, especially since he doesn't seem to be having a great deal of fun, at least while he is playing. When he is playing he seems mostly frustrated. When he is not he is very excited about whatever he plans on doing next time.

Exhibit B:
His motor skills are horrible. He could trip over air. He holds implements in what my mother used to call the "shovel grip." It means of course that he has to use his whole arm to get food from his plate to his mouth, but it isn't something that I have been concerned to correct.

But yesterday I made soup for dinner. Frankie was very excited about the "homemade noodles" (direct from the local grocery store freezer). He cupped his bowl in his left hand, scooped soup with the ladle with his right, and then poured hot soup all over the bowl and his hand. The ladle probably holds about a cup, and only a few tablespoons landed in the bowl.

Fortunately the soup had been off the burner for a while, so it was not scalding hot. It did hurt though. He yelled, "ouch."

And then he did it again.

He did not seem to take a moment to think about it. If he changed his grip or speed or anything about how he did it, I could not see it. He got the same results. On the third scoop, after cheerfully refusing my assistance, he managed to get mostly noodles and very little broth into the ladle and most of those landed in the bowl. Pleased with his success he carried the bowl off and ate his noodles.

He's just such an odd duck. So lacking in the abilities that he needs and so cheerful.

Most of the time.

Is this FASD? Low IQ? ADD?

And I know in some ways it just doesn't matter, because whatever the cause, it is Frankie.

But I can't help wondering.

___
*For those who don't play WoW or live with those who do, you get to choose what race (human, elf, troll, etc.) you want to be and what occupation (mage, warrior, etc) you want. Each sort of character has different strengths and weakness. You can be good at healing yourself or others, good at casting spells, good at fighting, but no character is good at everything. I'm sure Maerlowe can explain it better and more completely!