History Main / FriendlyFireproof

This is largely an [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Acceptable Break From Reality]] because it'd be cumbersome to hold off your team's strongest attacks for fear of blowing one of your members up. It could also be considered as keeping you in-character; the person you're playing as wouldn't shoot their squadmates, so giving the player that ability would be a matter of GameplayAndStorySegregation. This also overlaps with StoryDrivenInvulnerability: being allowed to kill your plot-critical allies, or turn them hostile, would wreak havoc on the storyline. Still, it can get ridiculous at times, as some of the examples below testify; this is especially true if you ''are'' allowed to kill civilians or other friendly targets (including ''yourself''), and ''only'' your squadmates are immune to your idiocy.

* In ''BloodlineChampions'', you are incapable of harming your team. Throw those axes, boomerangs, fireballs, bullets, arrows and all sorts of magical attacks without fear. This is quite an advantage since you can have ranged attacks hit enemies through your large-sized but durable tank bloodlines while they absorb the enemies' attacks.

* The ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' series (and [[SamuraiWarriors spin]][[WarriorsOrochi offs]]) not only have the general meaning of this in spades (you can swing your weapon around freely in a pitched melee and still only hit enemy soldiers, leaving your friendly RedShirts unscathed), it also applies a particularly literal version: Using a Fire Attack to set an area ablaze will generally only harm enemies. So if you just set a base on fire, it'll burn your enemies to a crisp, while you can freely fight amongst the flames without even SWEATING. Of course, it also works the other way around if the AI decides to set something on fire. Interestingly, with fire being so partisan, the only kind of flames that'll indiscriminately hurt BOTH sides are ACCIDENTAL fires... so really, the best way to avoid getting burned is to set the place on fire before anyone ELSE can.

* Averted in the original ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life|1}}'', where shooting some of the friendly characters would cause a NonStandardGameOver. Also, firing at a security guard would cause him to shoot at (and damage) Gordon, provided he did not die. The second installment changed this by making Gordon automatically lower his weapon when aiming at friendlies. You could still fire at them, for some reason, but the bullets would inexplicably not harm them.

*** Being shot by the AI will never damage you, but your screen will shake from the hit and throw your aim off.

* Inverted in ''SoldierOfFortune II'', where the allies in Colombia are [[GameplayAllyImmortality immune to enemy bullets]], but yours can kill them, and if you kill one, it's Game Over.

* Used in the Killzone 3 mulitplayers. This comes especially handy with explosives, and is the reason why some players strap proximity mines onto allies, usually without their consent.

** This is highly averted in most of the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series (annoyingly enough). This made certain gametypes hard to play or make it nigh impossible to complete a match, since most Halo games (''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/HaloReach'') had the boot-button which most players used whenever it appeared. This makes a lot of lengthy gametypes a pain, and a game of VideoGameCaringPotential, which is difficult with incompetent teammates.

** This is why most Halo-gamers play with their friends so it fills up a whole team for certain gametypes. Mostly Team Slayer, where the friendly casualties are highest, and teammates are usually 4-5 players. (Which can screw you over if just one team-mate quits/gets booted.)

* ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'' has no friendly fire by design and for good reason; with all the crazy shootouts you get into against the cops, the last thing you need to worry about is watching where you aim. You can still hurt yourself and teammates with splash damage from the grenade launcher and trip mines, however. AI teammates take it to the next level as they are not only immune to your bullets, but unlike human teammates they actually ''stop'' those bullets rather than letting them pass through and still hit who you're actually aiming at.
* Taking advantage of this is almost necessary at times in ''VideoGame/KillingFloor''. Your explosives can hurt you, but not your allies. Your weapons will never hurt you or your allies. Teammate being swarmed by [[NotUsingTheZedWord Specimens]]? Eh, toss a grenade in there or just hose him down with a flamethrower. He won't so much as blink, but it'll get him free real fast. At higher levels, the [[CombatMedic Medic]] gets healing ''grenades'' in addition to his standard HealingShiv, meaning you can toss a grenade and heal multiple allies at once while still doing damage to any enemies that get caught in it.
* Used happily in Resistance2. In co-op and smaller PvP battles, the levels are small enough that you don't really need to check your aim (and some characters NEED to shoot allies in co-op!). However, you will be thankful for this in the *30 vs. 30 man team matches!*
* Averted in VideoGame/{{SWAT 4}}, where not only can you shoot and kill allies, it only takes one or two bullets to kill anything. Not checking your aim can result in killing a civilian or an enemy who's surrendered, killing your squadmates, or (in worst cases) your squadmate shooting you in the back of the head.

* Area51 has your members jumping into your fire, and if you accidentally shoot them, your health goes down. However, if you do this at the beginning, you unlock a different mode, where you have to stop the mutant aliens, human or not.

* ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'' has no friendly fire by design and for good reason; with all the crazy shootouts you get into against the cops, the last thing you need to worry about is watching where you aim. You can still hurt yourself with splash damage from the grenade launcher and trip mines.

* Present in ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'', flame weapons and AOE uber attacks cause no damage to Tenno. In the recent Gravidius Divide event, this extends even to factions the Tenno are temporarily allied with.

* In ''PhantasyStarOnline'', there are many massive techniques that can engulf the room with fire, lightning, or massively damage one target. Though multiplayer cohorts are totally unaffected. However, the player automatically aims at the closest available target and may cast techniques on item-boxes of not positioned properly.

** Averted though, when you do have the friendly fire on (every setting but Easy), you need to be careful with the Mages. Doesn't help when you cast a giant fireball at an enemy that is running at your party. Sure he's knocked down and set on fire, but so is everybody else in range. Including you. Also annoying to accidentally freeze a party member. Still, it is funny to see a party member talk to you while on fire, but some moves that paralyze of freeze an opponet that talks to you when defeated won't let the convo start until it wears off.

** In VideoGame/DragonAgeII, friendly fire is only actived on the highest difficulty setting. Normally, having a few melee based characters ganging up on a single powerful foe and unload BFS based super-attack is a good strategy, except that now, every blade attack has a small AOE that hugely (as warriors' damage output is now very high) damage ANYONE, especially the BFS, so essentially, your melee characters are going to slaughter themselves. Ironically, mages don't suffer as much from this change, since comparatively few of their spells can do friendly damages.

** However, players can hurt themselves with their own weapons, mostly explosives, taking a variable amount of damage: damage is reduced for rockets and stickybombs, full damage for (unguided) SentryGun rockets, or even ''increased'' in the case of the Detonator. Reflected enemy projectiles are treated the same way, so it is possible for a Pyro to kill himself even with a reflected rocket or pipe bomb. This makes explosive-jumping (sort of) balanced, which trades health for mobility.

You're playing a video game, and you get to the epic battle where it's your team against the enemy team that has ten times as many members as yours. But you have a secret attack in store for them: one that engulfs everything on the field in flames ForMassiveDamage. Your team is victorious! Hold on... ''everything?'' If it was ''that'' far-ranging, then why are your team members standing unhurt with only the scars they gained from enemies, and the [[SlapOnTheWristNuke grass with every blade untouched?]]

* ''NeverwinterNights 1'' and ''[[NeverwinterNights2 2]]'' allow you to choose whether you can damage your friends by changing the PvP settings. You can opt to not be able to hurt any friendlies, not to hurt your own party members, or just to damage anyone who gets hit.

* As does ''MedalOfHonor: Airborne'', which is a good thing since your Allied allies have a seemingly suicidal tendency to run right in front of your gun while you're blasting at the enemy.

* During Church's time-travel escapades in Machinima/RedVsBlue, he attempted to prevent his death by auto-fire tank blast by tinkering with Sheila the tank's friendly fire setting. However, the friendly fire was turned on by default, which caused Church to disable it by accident. Before he could correct it, Caboose took the tank out to attack the Reds and Church's death still happened as before.
-->'''Church''': Oh ''no''! '''I'm''' the team-killing fucktard!

* WarhammerDarkOmen also averts this without mercy. When you have a ranged unit fire at an advancing enemy, ''always'' switch them to another target if you send your melee fighters to finish the job, cause the shooters will not hesitate to fire into the fray (Unless you aim for the aforementioned trick with sacrificing your melee units to tie the enemy up and give your shooters a still target). Not only that, but since ''every'' projectile in the game is an actual object with its own trajectory, it's entirely possible to have a situation when you send a unit to flank an enemy who's engaged in a shoot-out with your shooters, [[EpicFail only for your shooters to miss the enemy and hit your flankers behind them by mistake]].

* Averted in ''StarWars: Galactic Battlegrounds'', in which the easiest way to lose mounted troopers is to put them in the same group as an Assault Mech (which does vast amounts of splash damage), and then order the group to attack a specific target. (Fortresses seem to be large enough that Pummels can rip them apart without being hurt by Assault Mechs that are also firing on the fortress, though)
* ''GroundControl'' had this on lower difficulty settings.
** When averted, careful unit placement is important, as they fire at the enemy even if there are friendlies in front of them. Since rear armor is much weaker than frontal armor, this can lead to problems.
* ''PopulousTheBeginning'': used and averted this, the shaman is immune to her own spell damage (except swamps) but her followers all take full damage.

* Friendly units in ''BrutalLegend'' are immune to any friendly attack, including [[KillItWithFire fire]], [[AnAxeToGrind axe attacks]], [[CarFu being run over by an armor-plated hot rod]], and flaming zepplin explosions.

* ''RogueGalaxy'' gives a send-up to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' with the 'Supernova' attack - a CombinedEnergyAttack special-move initiated by the hero, which creates a huge beam of energy that literally blows the planet you're standing on to smithereens, and scatter the lifeless rocks that result to the eight corners of the universe. And yet, somehow, the planet is still there for you to stand on when the move is over...

* Slightly averted in ''PhantasyStarII'', where the best offensive technique in the game hurts your friends too. A lot.
** What that technique actually does is steal 50% of your friends' hp and add it to the spell's base damage for an added punch, so it's not so much that it fails to differentiate between foes and allies but that it targets your allies specifically before nuking your foes.

* Done in all the Mario [=RPGs=], your own/your allies powerful attacks will only ever do anything to your opponents, not the party. Especially amusing in VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam, where the Luiginary Typhoon can literally suck up Mario like an enemy but does nothing to his HP.

* Averted in most of NipponIchi's strategy [=RPGs=], from ''LaPucelle'' on. All area effect spells and attacks hit EVERYTHING in their radius, including people you don't want it to. In later games, the number of friendly kills plays a role in determining which ending you get.

* Averted in ''SwordOfTheStars''. Your ships can damage each other. The Smart Nanites upgrade exists to allow you to play this straight with Nanite Missiles.

* In ''[[VideoGame/EmpireAtWar Star Wars: Empire at War]]'' and its Expansion, It is 100% impossible to hurt your own units with anything. Which is a good thing, considering how often units are packed right up against each other. Especially in Space combat, where fighters often fly around capital ships during battle, as said capital ships attempt (and fail) to shoot down the fighters with their turbolasers. It would be quite annoying if these turbolaser shots then damaged your own capital ships.

* ''The HouseOfTheDead III'' has occasional "rescue your partner from zombies" scenarios. Shooting your partner has no effect, so feel free to open fire on or extremely close to them if it'll save them[[note]]or rather, the potential life bonus and bonus room if you (and the 2nd player if any) haven't failed any rescue scenarios yet; your partner cannot take damage or die from a failed rescue[[/note]] from a zombie within critical proximity.

** This is highly averted in most of the ''{{Halo}}'' series (annoyingly enough). This made certain gametypes hard to play or make it nigh impossible to complete a match, since most Halo games ({{Halo 3}} and Halo: Reach) had the boot-button which most players used whenever it appeared. This makes a lot of lengthy gametypes a pain, and a game of VideoGameCaringPotential, which is difficult with incompetent teammates.

* Absent from the grand strategy game ''HeartsOfIron'' -- in naval engagements, at least. There's a small chance that one of your ships will fire on a friendly vessel, which actually did happen a couple times in WWII.

* Averted in ''TotalAnnihilation'' and its 3D spin-off ''{{Spring}}'': explosions will damage everything. However, friendly fire will actually go ''straight through'' friendly units (though this is mod-dependent in Spring), which means that technically you can fire at a friendly unit all you like and it will go unharmed so long as the missiles / lasers / whatevers don't explode on the ground next to them.

* ''GearsOfWar'' also allowed you to shoot your allies without harming them. Mostly, shooting at your allies or vice versa too much might make your character or theirs to tell them to get out of the way, or something to the air of 'you're blocking my shots.' It's not very nice.
* Averted in ''{{Oni}}'', and enemy mooks will not shoot if there is another blocking their line of fire. However, seeking weapons are indiscriminate and it is quite easy to lead them into another mook, who will be too dumb to get out of the way. Enemies are also rather indiscriminate with the sole SplashDamage weapon (a grenade launcher) and will happily fire it into melee.
* ''StarWarsBattlefront II'' gives you the option to turn off friendly fire. Do it, and watch as the AI units on your side suddenly become more effective. Additionally, you get to goof around with [[ViolationOfCommonSense Violations of Common Sense]] like playing a heavy unit and pieing the enemy in the face with mines.

* ''CityOfHeroes'' labels other people on the field as either friendly, hostile, or null: only friendlies can be hit with healing and {{Status Buff}}s, only hostiles can be hit with damage and [[StandardStatusEffects debuffs]], and nulls (some hostages, all civilians on the street) can't be helped or harmed at all by anyone. This allows you to unload indiscriminate explosions (or, for that matter, blanket healing) in a tight battle without fear of hitting the wrong person, hostages included.

* ''GhostbustersTheVideoGame'' plays the trope straight, hitting any of the other Ghostbusters will provoke nothing worse than a sarcastic remark. Pretty jarring when you remember how powerful the Proton Pack is. Crossing the Streams however is a ''bad'' idea, it does a large amount of damage and knocks both characters on the ground.

** Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' with Krieg, who has a skill that actually makes him susceptible to friendly fire. This goes with skills that buff him as he takes damage, and more levels in the skill that enables him to take friendly fire reduce the damage taken more and more. Fortunately, it does not cancel out Maya's ability to heal with bullets.

** The blog for ''Brawl'' discussed strategies that can be used if the Friendly Fire setting is on, such as having a teammate throw projectiles into [[http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/characters/hidden08.html Mr. Game & Watch's Oil Panic bucket]].

* This is not the case in ChivalryMedievalWarfare. Horizontal swings in a clumped melee is frequently more liable to hit your allies instead, since your enemies can see your swings clearly to block them!

* The ''DynastyWarriors'' series (and [[SamuraiWarriors spin]][[WarriorsOrochi offs]]) not only have the general meaning of this in spades (you can swing your weapon around freely in a pitched melee and still only hit enemy soldiers, leaving your friendly RedShirts unscathed), it also applies a particularly literal version: Using a Fire Attack to set an area ablaze will generally only harm enemies. So if you just set a base on fire, it'll burn your enemies to a crisp, while you can freely fight amongst the flames without even SWEATING. Of course, it also works the other way around if the AI decides to set something on fire. Interestingly, with fire being so partisan, the only kind of flames that'll indiscriminately hurt BOTH sides are ACCIDENTAL fires... so really, the best way to avoid getting burned is to set the place on fire before anyone ELSE can.

* Averted in ''FreeSpace''. Aside from specific mission that have the special no-traitor flag, allied spaceships will give you a warning after a few shoots on them ("Whose side are you on, pilot ?!"). If you persist, all your allies will suddenly turn against you (and of course, your enemies will stay enemies), which kind of result in a Game Over.

* Averted in ''[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'', where a mage who's less-than-careful with his fireballs can quickly become the least popular member of the party. However, there are several spells which only harm characters of a certain [[CharacterAlignment alignment]], which works out to "enemies only" or "allies only" in a Good vs. Evil game. Woe betide the [[TokenEvilTeammate evil character in a good party, though]].

* In ''[[CommandAndConquer Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3]]'', Spies and Sudden Transports ([[DressingAsTheEnemy units that can disguise themselves as enemy infantrymen or vehicles, respectively]]) will never be accidentally targeted by friendly forces, even when their disguises are active. The game itself, however, has a force-attack option, which allows the payer to order their units to attack friendly units and structures.
* ''CommandAndConquer'', at least the first one, does a terrible (to the player) work at averting this trope. With several units that deal splash damage, you may try a mass attack, but a mass attack of grenadiers or flamethrowers is going to hurt you more than the enemy.
** ''CommandAndConquerTiberianSun'' has three OneHitPolykill units in the form of Ghoststalker with his handheld railgun, the Mammoth Mark II with its mecha-sized railgun and the Disruptor with its sonic beam attack, all of which will damage friendly units if they happen to get in between them and their target (though Disruptors are immune to the beams of friendly Disruptors which makes them less of a problem).