The act of reading and writing for massive amounts of hours will naturally hone one's mind--

But beware, don't follow my mistake.
Starting college at 14 and knocking out calc1-3/linear alg/discrete math by 16, i had a very good potential; but then i got over-involved in mudding and for about half a decade neglected all else.  So the moral is, MUDding is way more enlightening than watching **** on TV, but ultimately it's just another diversion.

On a more positive note, by coding MUDs I self-taught myself C to a level quite beyond what most comp prog undergraduates know, entirely self-taught.  Still not worth the sacrifice though.  (Would my life be better if I had made different choices then?  Who knows.  Regret is a very presumpive emotion.)