Those of us in the US obviously won't be suffering from a horrible economy forever. All of those people with degrees and no jobs right now will obviously be the first ones to get most of those new jobs when they do roll out, not people with no diploma or college degree.
Still, you have to ask yourself, do you REALLY want to be making games for a living? I know I'll probably get flamed for this, but why not do it on the side and do something else that will likely make you feel more essential and fulfilled, like something more beneficial to society in the long-term? I'm not saying necessarily becoming a doctor or something like that, but maybe something like someone that develops a website or other software that makes people's lives easier. I'm not calling game developers worthless to society, but really, you almost never read (or at least I have never read) of many people that are truly happy in game development--indie or otherwise. It's just the opposite, in fact. I read of people that feel like they are not truly making their mark on the world so eventually end up dropping game development as their profession.
And when you think about it, in the grand scheme of things, what real long-term fulfillment is there in making tiny distractions that people these days will most likely forget about quickly and delete, or even in making longer games that take years of your life to develop? Not to mention that a huge portion of games are pirated anyway, so not only may you end up feeling like people don't appreciate your hard work, you'll likely barely make enough money. Sure, it may be possible to make it rich, if you're extremely good or extremely lucky and make a simple, silly distraction like Angry Birds that everyone wonders why is making so much money in the first place, and if money is all you care about, then by all means.
Please, finish high school. Then look at colleges and make sure you really don't want to go through the college experience. Don't just think about all the work you have to do, but also think of the special bonds you can usually only form in a school-like environment (particularly if you live on campus), the tons of gorgeous females you will see every day (Chicks dig smart college guys, even ugly ones like Zuckerberg.), and so on. If you worry about college being a waste because of having to learn too many things you'll never use, then maybe consider a 2-year technical college. Most of what you'll take then should be the stuff you need to be successful in your field. You could even go to one of those colleges that many video game geeks dream about like Full Sail or Digipen.
