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Avid Bahraini PlayStation gamer Hakam Karim has established himself as the king of gaming by reaching the pinnacle of all online leader-boards ... using a self-sufficient money-making service forged through his gaming exploits.
His prowess has grown to such an extent that he now runs a team of players to act as dummy doubles for those willing to pay the price to achieve online success and impress their friends without having to spend hours in front of a screen.
“With the success we’re having this is more than enough for me to be self-sustainable, not only to live and support my family, but also to buy new games for me to complete and offer to other players in what I call … The Trophy Service.”
The 29-year-old former Bayan School pupil and Arab Open University graduate first got hooked on collecting ‘Trophies’ – in-game achievements unlocked by completing certain tasks within games – back in 2008 when Sony first released them for the PS3 system.
Now, almost six years later and under his handle ‘Hakoom’, he has earned 32,408 trophies and 642 Platinum prizes, the final trophy that is unlocked once all the other trophies in the game have been earned and a level which signifies that the game has been fully completed.
According to online gaming analysts – psntrophyleaders.com – Hakam, who lives in Adliya, is the top trophy hunter in the world and the gap between himself and his challengers is ever-increasing.
His addiction began very early on, as he explained: “I had quite a lot of free time when trophies were released and it was a new way to play games, so I tried to unlock as many as I could.
“It initially started out as a hobby that I was balancing with my studies, but when I saw I was being overtaken by others on the leader-boards, I was determined to stay as number one. Everything I do in life, I have to be the best. I attribute that to being a Leo!”
Despite finishing his studies and obtaining a Bachelors Degree in Information Technology, Hakam decided to forgo launching into a full-time career and instead focused on trophy hunting.
He explained: “I am an only child, so my parents wanted me to go out into the world and pursue a career. They felt I was wasting my time playing video games and that I would not get anywhere with it. However, it was impossible to maintain my status on the leaderboards and study, or work, at the same time, so I had to make a decision. I chose gaming, of course!”
And to prove his doubters wrong, he is now forging a living by solely playing video games.
The answer lies in the ‘Trophy Service’. Advertised on his website (https://hakoom.net/trophy-service/), it is a facility which allows gamers from around the globe to collect Platinum trophies, with a little aid, of course, from Hakam and his team.
For prices ranging from just $20 (BD7.5) for single, easy games to a staggering $1,300 (BD490) for packages of multiple tough games which require hundreds of hours of playing, a gamer from, say, New Zealand, can temporarily transfer his account details to Hakam who will then earn the desired trophies on it before giving it back.
Although the Trophy Service started out with low expectations, if any at all, the combination of his recognisable name and a trustworthy service saw it snowball surprisingly quickly into what is now a fully-functional operation.
Hakam said: “When I started it in late 2011, I didn’t think anyone would take it seriously and it was a bit of a joke. But, a couple of customers contacted me and offered to pay for my help and the service.
“There were not too many games back then so I had time to do them myself as well as play my own games to keep my position on top. With this small income, I slowly bought more games, especially Japanese imports, which are rarer yet extremely quick to finish, which allowed me to develop the business.”
However, with constant threats to his position as the world’s elite gamer, Hakam was forced to change direction. He explained: “It dawned on me that if I split my time between earning trophies for myself and earning them for other people, there would be no chance to remain Number 1.
“So, I asked my friends if they wanted to help me, and they agreed. Now, I don’t play any of the games myself but act as a proxy, via my name and website, between the gamers using the service and my friends who provide it.
“I take a 20 per cent cut of the payment as commission.”
A new member of this fan club is Hakam’s wife, Bahraini Jana, also 29, whom he married in a low-key ceremony in December 2013. Fortunately, she is extremely supportive of her husband’s passion and regularly helps him with his Trophy Service.
In February 2010, when GulfWeekly last spoke with Hakam, he said that was unable to find true love as he was too busy gaming. Ironically, it was later, through gaming, that he met Jana. Initially one of Hakam’s 11,000 fans on Facebook, the couple realised they shared a common interest in gaming, got talking frequently, and the rest is history!
Invariably, as with all frontrunners in competition, Hakam has to deal almost daily with a deluge of abuse from what the community refers to as ‘haters’. He said: “At the beginning, even for the first two or three years, I had many detractors. It was a lot of pressure and it affected me mentally, of course. However, as time went by I learned to brush it off and now I have a huge number of fans who say positive things and support me.”
Hakam attributes the abuse primarily to jealousy from those who wish they could just play video games all day, but have to balance gaming time with schooling and work commitments.
The most frequent barbs are those tired clichés aimed at gamers, such as ‘you have no life’ or ‘you’ll never have a girlfriend’, both of which Hakam can heartily dismiss by pointing at his robust social life, large friendship circle and his aforementioned marriage.
However, when the accusations are more serious and question the legitimacy of the numbers displayed in his trophy account, Hakam takes a fierce stand. He argues: “All the time I get people commenting on my YouTube videos and my profile saying that I’m a hacker – someone who uses illegitimate methods to unlock the trophies in a game instantly and with zero effort – and it gets tiring.
“No matter how many YouTube videos I produce which prove that I am innocent and that very occasionally games can glitch, they refuse to believe me. I know that unless they sit next to me while I play 100 per cent of the time, I cannot prove it, but I know in my heart how hard I have worked to reach the top, so I try not to listen to them.”
The Trophy Service is also burdened with criticism. Some argue that paying others to complete games for you is immoral and cheapens the satisfaction of achieving a better position on the online leaderboards.
Hakam openly admits he can see both sides of this argument: “On the one hand, it’s like paying for any service that you don’t want to do yourself, like paying someone to wash your car or tidy your garden. However, as someone who has earned the Number 1 spot as an individual with hard work and effort, I disagree with paying someone else to do it for you and then claiming your reward of achieving a high level as your own accomplishment. But I need to do this to support myself and my goals of staying at Number 1, so I will continue to offer it for as long as people are willing to pay for it.”
Despite being at the top for almost six years and seeing off numerous challengers, Hakam has no intentions of slowing down.
His dream is to get noticed one day by Japanese technology giants and PlayStation creators Sony Corporation and obtain its support as he continues his quest.
To do this he will keep ploughing through every new game that is released, supported by his own shrewd business plan. As he puts it himself: “I have thousands of fans on Faceook and YouTube that support me. I feel like a boxer, I have to constantly work hard and perform for my fans, otherwise someone else will overtake me and I will fade into obscurity.”
*To find out more about Hakam and his gaming achievements, visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hakoom/361497360579 or https://www.youtube.com/user/gotchstyle
