Ultimately the domain doesn't determine success. It's still really nice to have a .com -- I'd say you should try and find a .com that is available and don't pay squatting fees. It's just not worth it. You definitely don't want a -.

.net really isn't great, but it won't make or break your site. I'd rather have a .net domain than one with a -. Here's some domains I found on instantdomainsearch that were available.

kingedout.com kingedup.com kingedoff.com checkeredking.com kingscheck.com checkerking.net kingsrow.net checkermate.net checkersmate.com

kingme.com is an awesome domain name though -- if you have the money and it's around $500... go for it. $10k is not worth spending your own money.