Stock trading

There has been so much news regarding the US recession, it gets scary at times when you wonder if the same economic crisis will get to our own economy. I'm not an expert on trading, I've only some slight background on stuff like futures trading, hedging, etc. I don't even understand much of it. I tried something like a stock market online game, and I think I did fairly well, but is it something I will look into in the future? Probably. I think the stock market is still a good way to augment income and savings, better than a bank account that is. But the saying still goes, the bigger the risk, the bigger the loss or the gain. I'm hoping when I do try it, its going to be a gain.