Are forks a critical asset to winning games?

After a little study this week I have come across the strategy of forking in order to gain material from your opponent (I'm a beginner). I tend to find in my games at the moment that for the most part I'm doing nothing but exchanging material for the greater parts of games. Is forking something you specifically look for in a game continuously as you play? Is forking necessary to winning games over and over? 

Thanks

Along with other simple tactics such as pins, skewers and more, forks are something that you always be looking, yes. They will regularly win games.

Maybe not forks specifically, but all good players have looked for checks, captures, and threats for so long that it's just a habit. So much so that things like forks are checked for unconsciously.

Although, it helps to recognize basic patterns. As white if I see a configuration like this:

I instinctively want to get a pawn on b5 or a knight on g6 so I start looking to see if I can. If that's not possible, then I just ignore it.

Other than basic patterns, what also helps is looking for threats, even if the move seems suicidal at first. In the puzzle below, Re8 forks the king and queen, but black could just capture it with the knight. But once white notices the fork idea, he can try to find a way to make it work (try the puzzle below).