In terms of gaming it's a resounding YES for me. Since my formative years took place well before we had the Internet we do now I forged quite a few bonds over sharing copied floppies and burned CDs. Many a game I have learned about via my school friends.
In terms of what the schooling system was supposedly designed for... Meh. Inefficient at best, a waste of resources and my time at worst. I say this not only as a kid growing up in the system but also a licensed teacher who has experienced being on the other side of the barricade. If anything, it only got worse over the years. Personally, I would abolish most of mandatory schooling other than basic literacy and math, which shouldn't really take more than a year or two. This may be an uncomfortable truth for some but a lot of kids aren't just lazy, they're stupid too. That in and of itself wouldn't be a problem (let's face it, chances of me being here would be a lot lower if I had a knack for rocket science and sending people to Mars) but the big thing is that kids who are clearly not going to make use of education provided by the schooling system get in the way of teaching the smart kids. My advice for parents who have a good head on their shoulders and have a smart kid would be to avoid the public schooling system at all costs. The whole 'no child left behind' policy we adopted from the US was to our detriment as a society since those children are simply dragging other children down instead of catching up.
As a side note, that's also exactly why you see more and more snooty university graduates who not only don't know jack shit about anything, but also feel superior in their ignorance. As the saying goes, there's only one thing worse than an idiot and that's an educated one.
Well. now that was a diatribe if I ever saw one but I'm not gonna lie. It hurts that not only is teaching pretty much a minimum wage job where I live but also that it sucks as much as it does. Thankfully I quit ages ago. I teach people of various ages 1-on-1 sometimes after hours as it were but I would never return to school. Not unless the prospective salary is at least tripled, so good luck with that I say to both the schooling system and myself.