APM is an abbreviation of ‘Actions per Minute’. APM is a calculation of the player’s action-rate each minute, serves as an approximate measure of the player’s agility or speed, and is widely believed to be an essential component of calculating eSports players’ “mechanics”.
Gamers are able to artificially increase their APM by doing any combination of ‘apm spam’ tactics including mass selecting workers and repeatedly selecting command structures or overlords. To mitigate the apm spam and determine the player’s true APM, many games also simultaneously calculate the player’s “EPM” or effective actions per minute.
Which Games Calculate APM?
Ultimately every modern game does some sort of APM calculation, but it’s most commonly referenced by RTS games such as Starcraft.
Starcraft in particular has a long history with obsessing over APM, with god tier pro gamers like Flash and Jaedong frequently exceeding 300APM, an average of 6 actions per second average for the entire duration of the match, from start to finish.
Gaming Terms Similar to APM
Modern games track an incredible amount of player variables, including several similar to the aforementioned APM and EPM.
MPM: Moves per Minute — MPM tracks how many times players issue move commands to their units, which helps illustrate the rate at which a player is able to control their units, explore, build, and conduct other non-combative maneuvers.
HPM: Hotkeys per minute — HPM tracks how many times players utilize hotkeys (both customized and system hotkeys), which helps illustrate the rate at which the player performs tactical actions involving unit control and construction. Pro gamers will almost exclusively use hotkeys rather than waste precious milliseconds moving their mouse to the game’s embedded command panels.
‘APM’ and ‘Actions per Minute’ Gaming Slang Term Worldwide Use Trend
