Of course they could. The success of many fan communities for topics (especially modding/ROM hacking/game development ones) often comes down to a largish group

Of course they could. The success of many fan communities for topics (especially modding/ROM hacking/game development ones) often comes down to a largish group of dedicated hobbyists working together to push things forward. That's how you get stuff like SMW Central or Sonic Retro. Same deal with stuff like speedrunning communities, eSports scenes, etc. Or outside of that field, open source software development and web development in general. How many of the advancements in say, programming language design are made by hobbyists compared to academics?