Meet Joe767, also known as Ikmal Hakim Shah in real life.
Hailing from Perak, Malaysia, Joe currently studies Computer Science (Network and Computer Security) in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia…and, as you might have guessed, Joe is also an up and coming Youtuber with a big dream.
As the leader of the group channel two LATE and member of a newly-formed collaboration crew called Durian Crew, Joe now calls himself by his moniker as (1) a play on the word “Johan” (winner in Malay), as he has never won a competition in his life; and (2) a play on the word “Joker” to remind him that life will not be fun if he does not make it fun.
Joe started gaming at the very young age of 3 with Super Mario, and learnt to make videos at 9 years old, although he had not started posting videos at the time. Having learnt about Youtube a few years later in 2009, he finally posted his first video below thanks to a friend’s gift of “Hot Wheels Bash Arena”.
Then, that same year saw him graduating to online games such as Cabal, SDO-X and Maple Story. “I love cute avatar games,” he laughs, noting that despite having posted his first video, he still did not have any software to record gameplay.
This changed when he met friend and fellow Youtuber Avian, who introduced him to games such as Assassin’s Creed. “We met because Avian loved to edit videos and I loved to record videos,” said Joe, “so we made a team called Studio Story Inc. (S.S. Inc.). Avian also taught me some ways to edit videos.”
Sadly, the group eventually disbanded, so he created two LATE with his friend and started solo-vlogging until he began university life.
“My friends in university introduced me to a few online games,” he related. “Then I contacted Avian again just to talk, and he told me about Fundeavour.” When he first saw the website, he wasn’t too keen as he wasn’t a hard-core gamer, but then he decided to join anyway because he thought it sounded fun. Pretty soon, the quest system in Fundeavour (completing mini-tutorials on Youtube, streaming and eSports to earn points) won him over.
“Fundeavour’s quests motivated me to create gaming videos by giving me useful tips that I can apply, and challenged me to do something that I have never done before. As a gamer, I tend to complete all quests, so trying to do all the quests in Fundeavour made me interested in making gaming videos,” he said with a grin. “That said, Fundeavour itself was the main motivation – with all the gamers in it, I gathered new friends like Alif Malorka and Izz (Xiao Chibi), and I started to talk with Avian (also one of the top 3 Fundeavour heroes in September. Editor’s Note: interview coming up soon!) a lot more frequently.”
“I also befriended Taku Taku and the other members of Durian Crew and made gaming videos.”
Joe, playing with other friends that he met in Fundeavour
Unlike other Youtubers, however, Joe plans to use his future expertise in Network and Computer Security to create fast Internet infrastructure to support gaming.
“In my opinion the biggest problem for gamers in my area is an unstable internet connection. This drove me to want to earn a PhD so I can research how to create fast Internet for gaming. This also will help streamers to obtain a more stable connection to stream their gameplay.”
As a parting word, we asked him about what he thought would change the mindset of the elders towards gaming.
“A mind set is just like a computer program,” he responded. “Once it’s run, it’s hard to change, unless we understand the way (or the language) of the “program”. What exactly makes the elders think like this?” He paused. “It’s the way the new generation behaves towards the game, and that reflects in how it’s seen by the elders. So we need to teach the kids to behave properly even if it’s just a game, to manage their time, and to understand their priorities. If the elders see the changes and benefits towards the behaviour of the new generation, they would understand and change their minds. In short, the behaviour of the new generation towards games can change the mindset of the old people.”
Why not give it a shot?
Follow Joe767 at the following social media links:
Fundeavour: https://fundeavour.com/joe767/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DurianCrew.Offcial
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8AUjJGmXJC9KT5ef12YC1A
This feature was written as part of a partnership with Fundeavour, a site that helps aspiring gamers around the world to get a head start on beginning their journey as content creators, streamers and eSports players. Want to be featured and share your stories with over 20,000 readers? Check out more info here or sign up with Fundeavour.com!