I own a trading account and few stocks in my account. But i haven't used it anytime, it was part of my education the account was started and it is idle till now. It is a risky game rather than a fake game.
Owning stocks is risky if you don't know how to diversify your portfolio very well. It's also important to have 600% of what you are willing to invest in a checking or escrow account as often as possible in case of a dip in the market or something. Never invest the entirety of the of money in the account and it won't be so risky.