What does "BM" mean in gaming? Explained

What does BM mean in gaming?

BM is an abbreviation of “bad manners” and is used to describe disrespectful behaviour within a game — typically competitive titles.

Where did the term BM come from?

Although there’s no definite answer, it looks like BM was originally a term used in Starcraft and its sequel. Many modern gaming terms found their origin in Starcraft before coming to other competitive titles.

What types are there?

BM can come in many different forms, from insulting players in text chat, being aggressive over voice comms, or even performing in-game actions to rub victory in the face of your opponents or sabotage your own team.

Trash talk is something that the majority of people who have played an online game have experienced at least once. This probably doesn’t explaining, but things such as saying “ez”, spamming “?” when an opponent whiffs an easy shot, or just launching general insults at people are all forms of BMing (though at varying levels of severity).

Another way of BMing someone is through in-game actions. This might take the form of using in-game emotes to taunt an enemy, shooting the bodies of opponents, and, of course, the infamous t-bag. We’re not going to get into the whole debate surrounding t-bagging in games, but these forms of BM have been around for years, so don’t be too surprised when someone dances over your corpse or sprays a few bullets into it.

If someone REALLY doesn’t want to continue with a game, they might purposefully ‘throw’ the match to get their own team to lose. They may sit AFK for several rounds, give away easy kills, or expose the position of teammates.

Why might they do this? It could be as petty as them not getting the character choice they wanted or they’re just a troll. Either way, throwing is normally a bannable form of BM as it makes the gaming experience worse for everyone involved. If you spot someone doing it, report them for toxic behaviour.

Which games contain a large amount of it?

The most well-known games for having a noticeable amount of BM-loving players are League of Legends, CS:GO, DOTA 2, and VALORANT.

This isn’t to say that these games are unplayable, nor that BM doesn’t exist in other titles. But they’re certainly some of the most infamous for it.