History Main / FriendlyFireproof

** Notably, this works for the computer enemies as well. Seeing a Snakeman [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy accidentally shoot its]] [[DemonicSpiders Cryssalid]] ally while [[KickTheDog trying to kill a civilian]] was a true SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}.

* Used happily in ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}} 2''. 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!

* In ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'''s PVP mode, players on the same team can't hurt each other and players who have PVP turned off can't be harmed by other players. This applies to melee weapons and bullets (both physical and magical), but not to environmental damage, which will damage any players (including the one who triggered it) regardless of their status. Explosives of any kind, rolling boulders, and arrow turrets are treated as environmental damage.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has friendly fire off by default because if you haven't already guessed from its name, this game was designed with teamwork in mind and friendly fire would potentially ruin teamwork-oriented gameplay. One main reason for this is the fact that the only way to root out Spies disguised as teammates is to shoot every ally you find and see if they are affected. Server admins can turn friendly fire on and off via the Developer Console [[RuleOfFun just for the fun of it]] though.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', as the spells Quake, Tornado, Meltdown (or [[{{Woolseyism}} Merton]]), and the [[SummonMagic Esper]] Crusader ''will'' harm your own party in addition to the enemies on screen. However, this seems a bit silly at times when similar massively-damaging spells such as Meteor (bombards the area with meteors) and Ultima (concentrated nuclear blast) leave your party members alone, leaving the others AwesomeButImpractical.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', you can call down a gigantic explosion on the entire battlefield without even singeing your allies' hair.
** The all-time king of the ridiculous, from the same game, is Sefer Sephiroth's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTc9sLmOR0A Super Nova attack]], which destroys three planets just ''getting'' to Earth, then ''blows up the sun'', taking out Mercury and Venus in the process. And he can do it multiple times in one battle.
** Generally averted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' as summons and most of the bigger spells cause your party to teleport out before the effect occurs. The one exception is ''Blasting Zone''...
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' also uses the teleportation effect. In fact, it's standard for summons in the whole ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series.
** Also done in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' continues with the tradition of making your party members vanish before the summon attack begins. It also has a subversion in Quina's Night spell. Night hits your party members along with the monsters, but you can make yourself immune by equipping the Insomniac ability. Then, Dark based Doomsday spell averts the trope.
** Unless you equip your party with the proper element absorbing items, in which case they're just awesome. Ultima doesn't heal your party every time you cast it. Meltdown, Tornado, and Quake can.
*** Justified in the case of most Espers, whose summoning sequences cause the party to vanish first.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* While tanks ''really'' aren't this trope when referring to their main guns, they do count when talking about small arms not specifically designed to penetrate tank armor. For this reason, tanks carry [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canister_shot canister shot]] for dealing with infantry at close range, which they can use to "scratch the back" of another tank to [[ChunkySalsaRule utterly obliterate]] any infantry trying to climb onto it.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' and its sequels. If you kill too many of your allies, they will no longer be allies.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' largely averts this, as moves such as Earthquake, Surf and Discharge will affect all targets in a Double or Triple Battle, including allies. There are moves such as Rock Slide that only target enemies, but they do reduced damage to all targets. You also have the option of targeting your allies with most single-target moves.
** Of course, the game's complex ElementalRockPaperScissors makes it easy to create Double or Triple battle combos that take advantage of these moves. Pair a Flying-type or one with the Levitate ability with another that knows Earthquake to hit foes while avoiding allies, or use Surf to damage enemies and restore the HP of an ally with [[ElementalAbsorption Water Absorb]] at the same time.
** The Telepathy ability specifically makes a Pokemon impervious to attacks that target both friend and foe.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/VandalHearts 2'': All attacks hurt anyone in range, which if you plan badly or the enemy
move can make attacks not only devastating for yourself but the enemies untouched. This made some powerful spells unusable in close combat, and the enemy could also sneak into the range of your healing spells.

* Zig-Zagged 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. But the StandardStatusEffect Confusion, caused by the Radiation elemental damage types, causes its victims to ignore this (NPC even go to the length of actively attacking each other), for both their attacks toward their allies and those of their allies toward them. Also, the Warframe Mag, specialized in manipulating magnetic forces, can target an enemy with an ability that causes them to attract bullets fired near them by both their allies and enemies.

** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout2}}'' has many [=NPCs=] capable of using automatic weapons, from [=SMGs=] to automatic shotguns to [[GatlingGood miniguns]]. Every last one of them will fire unhesitatingly into the little cluster of PowerFist -wielding maniacs surrounding you. The game tries to help by allowing you to talk to you allies and tell them when burst fire is acceptable. Options range from "don't use burst fire if I'm in the way" to "Use burst fire even if I'm in the way", and everything in between (that option being "only use burst fire if you're sure you won't hit me"). ''This does absolutely nothing to prolong your life''.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' both have friendly fire turned on, the latter has a perk that makes you less likely to hit your allies. Non-essential NPC's, however, can accidentally be hit and will subsequently turn hostile along with their allies.

* It's standard in almost every MultiplayerOnlineBattleArena that your character's spells will ignore your allies, though it's possible to force your attacks to hit allied [[RedShirtArmy creeps]] or structures, which actually does have a purpose[[note]]Killing them yourself denies your opponent the gold and experience bonuses of landing the killing blow themselves. Such a process is actually known as "denying"[[/note]].

* ''Literature/CodexAlera'''s [[WolfMan Canim]] carry bloodstones that render them immune to their own side's very nasty, very large-scale battlefield BloodMagic. Things get [[TheWorfBarrage interesting]] when [[CrazyAwesome Tavi]] gets his hand on one.

* In ''VideoGame/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.

* This is not the case in ''VideoGame/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 ''VideoGame/GundamVsSeries'' averts this. You can't directly target your partner, but friendly attacks still cause harm. This can be a problem if, for example, your AI partner decides to nuke the enemy with whom you are currently exchanging melee blows.
* Artdink's Gundam Battle series plays this mostly straight. However, there are settings for versus matches that can determine if allies can be targeted and/or damaged by friendly fire.

* In the ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Knight]]'' games, friendly {{NPC}}s are immune to most of your Force powers (but not your saber or guns.)
** That makes perfect sense, really - [[AWizardDidIt it's the Force!]] [[DoingInTheWizard Or...]]

** And it's usually “on” in games such as ''DayOfDefeat: Source''.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has friendly fire off by default because if you haven't already guessed from its name, this game was designed with teamwork in mind and friendly fire would potentially ruin teamwork-oriented gameplay. One main reason for this is the fact that the only way to root out Spies disguised as teammates is to shoot every ally you find and see if they are affected. Server admins can turn friendly fire on and off via the Developer Console [[RuleOfFun just for the fun of it]] though.
** However, players can hurt themselves with their own weapons, mostly explosives, taking a variable amount of damage: damage is reduced for rockets and {{Sticky Bomb}}s, 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.
*** With the Wrangler, the Engineer can take control of his SentryGun and fire rockets manually. This allows the engineer to rocket jump to places that only Demomen and Soldiers could have rocket/sticky-jumped to.
*** Very briefly averted by the unlockable Wrangler. A glitch existed where Sentry Gun rockets, under the influence of the Wrangler, could actually hit and kill your allies in very specific circumstances (aim your sentry at a teammate, fire your rocket, immediately pull out your Destroy tool, destroy the Sentry before the rocket reaches its target). The reason is that a Sentry Gun's rocket cluster that has no 'affiliated' Sentry Gun due to its destruction used to be treated as a third 'neutral' team (similar to things like environmental kills) and would therefore hit either team. This was very quickly patched out due to its obvious uses in {{Griefing}}, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2t92Niq-Tg like so]].
** A Pyro exploit, similar to the above Wrangler exploit, averted the trope by breaking the built-in code against friendly fire. It is similar in concept--walk up behind someone with the flamethrower going full blast, and quickly switch to spectator. The lingering flame particles join the player who switched to spectator and thus are part of a third 'team' and allowed to damage former allies. As expected, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLxUSAJSXjA more Griefing]] and patches soon followed, since these glitches demonstrated why being able to damage teammates would quickly lead to a breakdown in gameplay.
** There are a few weapons which have different effects for enemies and allies: the Crusader's Crossbow functions as a normal weapon for enemies and a HealingShiv for allies, while the Jarate, Mad Milk, and compression blast can extinguish burning allies but causes enemies to take extra damage, return damage as a lowered amount health and push away enemies and enemy projectiles respectively.
* As does ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAirborne'', 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.
** The older ''MOH'' games mostly play this trope straight.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' and ''VideoGame/AmericasArmy'', where the game hates you if you plink any friendly (on purpose, as a few strays are acceptable in [=CoD=]). [=CoD=] ends your "life", while AA sends your character to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth]].
** ''World at War'' plays the trope straight (at least in single player). Especially bad when you can shoot napalm straight through your squad to hit the enemies on the other side... And with one of the Death Cards, you can heal teammates in co-op by shooting them.
** Hardcore mode in multiplayer averts this -- as per its name, it makes things tougher by making your weapons as lethal to allies as to enemies, and removes the names that appear over teammates' heads in normal gameplay.

* ''VideoGame/TheEndTimesVermintide'', which is essentially a Warhammer version of ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' initially plays this trope straight, then averts it as part of the dramatic gameplay shift between the hard and nightmare difficulty levels, turning on friendly fire for all ranged and area attacks (but not melee attacks).

* Used in the ''VideoGame/{{Killzone}} 3'' mulitplayer. This comes especially handy with explosives, and is the reason why some players strap proximity mines onto allies, usually without their consent.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** Averted in a chillingly realistic fashion in ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'', where a squad of highly aggressive Marines will hunt you down and terminate you with extreme prejudice if you should happen to accidentally [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace discharge a fully loaded firearm in Captain Keyes' face.]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverKill Twice.]]
** This is averted in a more annoying fashion in most of the series. This can make certain gametypes hard to play, especially to completion, since the games from ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' onward have the boot-button which many players will use whenever it appears; lengthy gametypes in particular can be a pain, especially with incompetent teammates. In general, friendly fire and the boot-button can be a kick to the nads, especially during Invasion, or any match where you're kicking ass.
** This aversion is why most ''Halo'' players play with enough friends to fill up a whole team for certain gametypes. Mostly Team Slayer, where the friendly casualties are highest, and teams are usually 4-5 players (which can screw you over even if just one teammate quits/gets booted).
* Averted in ''[[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh Tron 2.0]]''. Though, if you screw-up and de-rez a non-hostile character, the game immediately protests "Illegal Program Termination" and gives you a NonstandardGameOver.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever'', to the point where shooting a ''monkey'' will result in a NonstandardGameOver with an "unacceptable simian casualties" message. The civilians will also cower if you approach them with a drawn weapon.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' and its sequels. If you kill too many of your allies, they will no longer be allies.
* In ''VideoGame/DuckHunt'', you cannot shoot the hunting dog, [[TheScrappy no matter how hard you try]]. Stop laughing at me, you [[{{Pun}} son of a bitch]]!
** Averted in the arcade version's bonus stage.

* ''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 grenades 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. While the sequel retains the same friendly fire mechanics, the addition of more powerful weapons like the rocket launcher, frag grenades, and molotov cocktails gives players more ways to cause friendly fire damage by accident or [[{{Griefer}} on purpose]]. Bullets still cannot harm players for friendly fire damage.
* In ''VideoGame/KillingFloor'' this is technically a server option, but it's almost always turned off. Taking advantage of this is almost necessary at times. 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 ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}} 2''. 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!

* In ''Videogame/BioshockInfinite'', shooting at the Luteces simply cause them to remark that you missed, even if you hit them at point-blank range. [[spoiler:It's justified in that they exist outside of reality due to a FreakLabAccident and are essentially {{Physical God}}s.]] Elizabeth can also not be shot, but she does ''not'' like having a gun pointed at her.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Evolve}}'' the hunter's weapons can't damage each other, but certain ones do deal knockback.

* ''VideoGame/{{Area 51}}'' 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.

* Heavily featured in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', where swinging blades, fire and ice and arrows and holy wrath coming down from the heavens all ignore each other and allies. Even [[StatusBuff buffs]] with two-edged effects can be removed in case they would be a disadvantage in that situation. In spite of this, it is remarkably easy to get everyone killed.

* It's standard in almost every MultiplayerOnlineBattleArena that your character's spells will ignore your allies, though it's possible to force your attacks to hit allied [[RedShirtArmy creeps]] or structures, which actually does have a purpose[[note]]Killing them yourself denies your opponent the gold and experience bonuses of landing the killing blow themselves. Such a process is actually known as "denying"[[/note]].
** A notable aversion of this (hence playing the trope even straighter) is VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends, where no ability or attack in the game can damage anything on the user's side. This is a JustifiedTrope in the lore, however: any set of Champions could end up on the same side, and there are several pairs (such as [[CainAndAbel Kayle and Morgana, Nasus and Renekton,]] [[WorthyOpponent Rengar and Kha'zix]]) who would ignore the team's welfare for the chance to kill each other, so the friendly fireproofing has to be completely airtight. (Several champions can doom their teammates using abilities that create impassable terrain or reposition them without warning or consent, but that's more in the realm of "getting your teammates killed" the "killing your teammates".)
* In ''Videogame/SuperHeroSquadOnline'', heroes cannot hurt heroes and enemies cannot hurt minions, except when Mind Control is applied.

* Both averted and inverted in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime''. When Farah is with you, she supports you by firing a bow and arrow, and will occasionally hit ''you'' and do damage. The Prince is appropriately annoyed when this happens, and Farah offers a quick, "Oops, sorry."
* ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}''. Tasen-dispensed munitions harm Iji and Komato, Komato-dispensed munitions harm Iji and Tasen, and player-dispensed munitions harm Tasen and Komato. SplashDamage ignores all of this regardless of who pulled the trigger. In stages where both races are available, they will tend to take priority on killing ''each other'' over the Anomaly. This is useful if you need to get the hell clear of an Annihilator; let your Tasen friends draw its attention away from you.

* The original ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' is rather weird when it comes to this trope. Some sources of splash damage, like the Siege Tank and Spider Mine, will hurt your units as well as enemies indiscriminately. Others however, like the Firebat and Reaver, will not harm your units if they get caught in the area of effect, but they ''will'' damage units belonging to friendly players. The more powerful area of effect attacks, like the nuke and psionic storm, deal damage indiscriminately.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/StarWarsGalacticBattlegrounds'', 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)
* ''VideoGame/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.
* ''VideoGame/PopulousTheBeginning'': used and averted this, the shaman is immune to her own spell damage (except swamps) but her followers all take full damage.
* Severely averted in Bungie's ''VideoGame/{{Myth}}'' games, as [[ArtificialStupidity over-eager ranged units]] tend to lob attacks right into melee battles, wounding friend and foe alike. But at least they apologize.
** Magic users are generally immune to their ''own'' explosive attacks, but not teammates'.
* Friendly units in ''VideoGame/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.
* In ''VideoGame/EmpireAtWar'' 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.
** If you're in a heated ground battle with the enemy, one tactic is to call in a bombing run ''right on top of you''! The end result is that your enemies will be decimated and you'll be completely unscathed.
* Archers in ''VideoGame/KingArthurTheRoleplayingWargame'' technically fire in an area rather then specific targets. Thus, firing at an enemy unit that is very close to your own may harm your own. Some magic spells also do damage in an area to all in that area, while others may avoid this. However, your cavalry and knights can be at FoeTossingCharge speed, but won't hurt your own units if they get in the way (Especially AcceptableBreakFromReality since getting to high speeds can be tough, so tying up enemy units in melee with your own is a particularly sure way to get it to happen. Otherwise, you'd probably need magic.).
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'', at least [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn 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.
** ''VideoGame/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).
** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'', 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.
* Frustratingly sporadic in the current version of ''{{VideoGame/Bowmaster}}: Winter Storm''; arrows that deal damage directly instead of having [[TrickArrow some special area effect]] will go right through friendly deployed units... Except when they don't. The arrow that can [[OneHitPolykill go right through targets]] will only avoid going through your guard most of the time, while the [[HealingShiv arrows that heal their targets]] can heal enemy units if fired into close combat.

* The ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' series has some attacks like Earthquake and Surf, that hit everyone in the same room, whether they be friend or foe. Ranged attacks can also harm allies if they get in the way, and a confused Pokemon can harm friend and foe alike with any of their moves. There exist IQ/Team skills that your Pokemon can learn in order to prevent the latter two forms of friendly fire, though.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', you can call down a gigantic explosion on the entire battlefield without even singeing your allies' hair.

** Squaresoft/Square Enix likes this one. In ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}},'' Fei's ultimate Ether - Big Bang - simply sends a gigantic blast through the Earth, cutting a hole through the core and causing it to explode. Cut back to the battlefield and everyone's perfectly fine.
** However, there are several enemies that will sometimes call attacks that damage everyone including themselves. In fact, in one instance, [[TooDumbToLive the attack damages the enemy more than it does your party!]]
* Generally averted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' as summons and most of the bigger spells cause your party to teleport out before the effect occurs.
** And then you have ''Blasting Zone''...

* Averted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', as the spells Quake, Tornado, Meltdown (or [[{{Woolseyism}} Merton]]), and the [[SummonMagic Esper]] Crusader ''will'' harm your own party in addition to the enemies on screen. However, this seems a bit silly at times when similar massively-damaging spells such as Meteor (bombards the area with meteors) and Ultima (concentrated nuclear blast) leave your party members alone, leaving the others AwesomeButImpractical.
** Also done in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' with the Dark based Doomsday spell.

** Justified in the case of most Espers, whose summoning sequences cause the party to vanish first.
* Turning Friendly Fire off in ''Franchise/DragonAge'' utterly breaks the game. The secondary knockdown/flash-freeze effects of spells like Fireball and Cone of Cold still apply, but they deal no damage to your allies or your person, making mages unbeatable.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' continues with the tradition of making your party members vanish before the summon attack begins. It also has a subversion in Quina's Night spell. Night hits your party members along with the monsters, but you can make yourself immune by equipping the Insomniac ability.
* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'''s CombinedEnergyAttack, Prophecy, ''[[ColonyDrop crashes a moon into the planet]]''. This doesn't even change the characters' formation, much less knock the planet out of its orbit and cause mass extinctions.
** Not to mention how often often you fight on airships... yet the moon can crash through them and half-burrow itself into the planet.

* Most games in the ''VideoGame/TalesSeries''. As the games in the series are action-{{RPG}}s and the antagonists frequently draw from the same pool of spells as the protagonists, this can make dodging a chore if you're not paying attention, since Abyssion's Meteor Storm looks exactly the same as Genis's Meteor Storm.
** {{Hand wave}}d in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' - Fonists (read: "mages") can mark their allies with invisible friend-or-foe markings to prevent friendly fire damage. Mentioned in one cutscene in which Jade says he can't use his magic to defend himself because there are too many civilians around who don't have friend-or-foe markings.
** To say nothing of [[LimitBreak Hi-Ougi]]. You can become a whirling torrent of massive energy blades, fire a gigantic laser across the battlefield, call down comets from space, [[SummonMagic call out an elemental]], and all sorts of other very impressive flashy things. But, like ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', your allies disappear beforehand so it's okay! Then again, normal weapon attacks and spells treat allies like they just don't exist.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'' - area effect spells hit in the area of effect, and if your friends happen to be standing right next to your target, then that's just too damn bad for them. Spells that are 'Hit All', however, will still only target foes...
* Friendly [=NPCs=] in ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' can be hit with any of your weapons. Fortunately (and/or gamebreakingly), most of them will hold off retaliating before you deal significant damage to them. On the other hand, you can't hurt Blue Phantoms, so Friendly PC Fire is off.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' largely averts this, as moves such as Earthquake, Surf and Discharge will affect all targets in a Double or Triple Battle, including allies. There are moves such as Rock Slide that only target enemies, but they do reduced damage to all targets. You also have the option of targeting your allies with most single-target moves.
** Of course, the game's complex ElementalRockPaperScissors makes it easy to create Double or Triple battle combos that take advantage of these moves. Pair a Flying-type or one with the Levitate ability with another that knows Earthquake to hit foes while avoiding allies, or use Surf to damage enemies and restore the HP of an ally with [[ElementalAbsorption Water Absorb]] at the same time.
** The Telepathy ability specifically makes a Pokemon impervious to attacks that target both friend and foe.
** There are some combinations of wild Pokémon, such as Zangoose and Seviper or Sableye and Carbink, that always attack each other instead of the player if they use single-target moves.
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights 1'' and ''[[VideoGame/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.
** The chief problem with leaving it on "hurts friendlies" is that if you have a melee-based henchman, they will run into the area of your fireball (or other favoured "kill lots of things" spell), receive a mild injury, and come running back over to beat you up with their weapon.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'', where the effects of spells are described in the manual rather than shown due to the primitive graphics of the time. In the description for the most powerful spell, Tiltowait, the manual specifically mentions that the spell also creates a force field to protect the party from the tremendous explosion created.
* ''VideoGame/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...
* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'', where friendly/neutral [=NPCs=] are immune to your melee attacks (unless you're locked on to ''them''), but not to your arrows/magic. This can be frustrating when [=NPCs=] get between you and your target, and they will.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series:
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout2}}'' has many [=NPCs=] capable of using automatic weapons, from [=SMGs=] to automatic shotguns to [[GatlingGood miniguns]]. Every last one of them will fire unhesitatingly into the little cluster of PowerFist -wielding maniacs surrounding you. The game tries to help by allowing you to talk to you allies and tell them when burst fire is acceptable. Options range from "don't use burst fire if I'm in the way" to "Use burst fire even if I'm in the way", and everything in between (that option being "only use burst fire if you're sure you won't hit me"). ''This does absolutely nothing to prolong your life''.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' both have friendly fire turned on, the latter has a perk that makes you less likely to hit your allies. Non-essential NPC's, however, can accidentally be hit and will subsequently turn hostile along with their allies.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout4}}'' adds a perk, Inspirational, that gives you immunity to friendly fire from your companion at rank one, and gives them immunity to friendly fire from you at rank two. It's very useful when you're fighting in narrow confines.

* Annoyingly absent in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' where three accidental hits will turn allies into enemies, usually because they keep getting in the way. However, you can "yield" to them and if their disposition to you is high enough they will back off. However, AI characters cannot yield to each other, and even AIs in the same faction will fight each other to the death if they hit each other 3 times. Some players take advantage of this by crafting a spell or bow of Command Humanoid up to Level 25, to make the enemies take each other out while you laugh and point from the shadows.
** In the ''Dragonborn'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]] of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', there is a perk [[spoiler:obtained through the use of a [[TomeOfEldritchLore Black Book]]]] that makes it so that followers don't take damage from your attacks, spells, and shouts while in combat.
* Somewhat unusually for the series, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIIRevenantWings'' has this. No ReviveKillsZombie for you!
* In one of the ''{{LightNovel/Slayers}}'' video games, ''all'' spells can hurt your own party members, so be very careful. Also, big fireball spells or destructive ones will scorch the ground!
* Slightly averted in ''VideoGame/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.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' does the hell out of this. Say you have a ton of darkspawn coming at you and are on such a difficulty level that friendly fire is turned off. You can nuke said darkspawn with...oh, let's go with Inferno...WHILE STANDING IN THE GIANT PILLAR OF FLAME WITHOUT FLINCHING! In addition, you can even have conversations with party members and [=NPCs=] while ON FIRE. And this is without any snarky commentary or anything.
** 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 opponent that talks to you when defeated won't let the convo start until it wears off.
** Also, even on the lowest difficulty, when Friendly Fireproof is enabled, while your party members are immune your attack spells, possible ally characters (unless they have PlotArmor) are not, making large-scale magic attacks impractical for mass combat.
** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', friendly fire is only activated 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.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin:'' Your arrows and magical missiles will pass through party members without harming them, but grenades and most area of effect spells will hit everyone.
* In the [[VideoGame/KisekiSeries Trails Series]], you can cast offensive [[MagicFromTechnology orbal arts]] or offensive crafts without injuring or even giving your teammates any effect whatsoever despite them being in attack range. Casting tornadoes? only the enemies are lifted upwards. Casting freezing or flood water art that targets the whole field? No problem!
** S-Craft-wise, two examples belong to [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky Tita's Satellite Beam]] and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Millium's Galactic Cannon]]. Both can be used without visible property damage around them and no allies are harmed in range. As an added bonus, you can still use Tita's S-Craft [[spoiler:in [[{{Bizarrchitecture}} distorted]] [[AnotherDimension space]]]]. Amusingly enough, both examples act as the TokenMiniMoe to the rest of their teams.
** The [[spoiler:battle with Luciola has a Craft in SC which averts this, however. Area-of-Effect Arts are suddenly much less helpful when it hurts your allies more than it hurts your enemies.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/GrandKingdom'', as all damage-dealing skills will hurt ''anyone'' in range, including your allies. Even {{healing potion}}s cause a negligible amount of damage, so if you toss one directly at an ally on the brink of death, the impact will most likely kill them.

* Averted in ''F/A-18 Hornet'', where if you damage any friendly planes or structures, you will be court-martialed as a NonstandardGameOver.
* Averted in the ''VideoGame/ARMA'' series unless playing a custom mission using custom scripts.
* Very averted in the ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' series. You really have to be careful when using AreaOfEffect weapons; a Firestorm Torpedo fired at the wrong time can wipe out an entire squadron of expensively equipped fighters. And don't even bother trying to do fleet or carrier operations if your ship is equipped with [[SplashDamageAbuse Phased Shockwave Generators]]; when they're firing you'll kill everything in a [[InstantDeathRadius one-kilometer radius]]. (They were {{nerf}}ed to capital ship-only from ''X3: Terran Conflict'' on for exactly that reason.)

* ''Franchise/GearsOfWar'' allows 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.

* ''VideoGame/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.

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' has this present in [[JustifiedTrope an unusually justified case]]. Inklings in both teams are equipped with a different color of ink, and the ink the player fires happens to be the same ink their teammates bodies are made of, and that they are able to merge completely into in their squid form. It makes sense that only opposing ink could harm them.
** It's a ''little'' less justified in the case of the Killer Wail, a WaveMotionGun in the form of a giant megaphone (it kills players with sound and doesn't ink any territory, implying that it isn't ink-based unlike all other forms of weaponry in the game). A suitable explanation probably exists (or at least is easily made), but the justification for it isn't as obvious.
* Completely averted in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' You can kill your EscortMission package in ONE hit by ANYTHING including one knife swipe. And even the merchant. However the ENEMY can't hurt each other AT ALL, even if the person obviously had stabbed his partner in the back. However people with dynamites can still kill the other ganados, and Jj can also shoot his own military.
** Of course, there is the option to turn on friendly fire. [[SarcasmMode Good times will be had by all.]]
*** Thankfully present in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', where your bullets and those of your partner can't hurt each other. It's still annoying, though, that your partner will gladly stand right behind you and keep shooting you in the back to get at the enemy in front of you.

* Averted in the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' series, where attacks damage anything in their range, including allied units... except for SummonMagic, where it halfway makes sense anyway due to being the efforts of ''two'' sapient beings. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'', "Target All" attacks are still mostly "Target all enemies" except for the Blue Mage's Night spell, which does indeed target everyone except the caster. And the Tinkers spells randomly target either the enemy or your own team.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' has the Scholar, basically an Illusionist without Friendly Fireproof mechanics. Fortunately, the right equipment setup can negate the damage on part of your own party members or even [[HealingShiv turn it into healing]].
** In both ''Advance'' games, the basic SummonMagic doesn't discriminate. The stronger totema/scions however, do, despite their animations showing them blasting the entire battlefield.
*** With a few exceptions. One scion has a (generally) 50/50 chance of causing 999 damage to EVERYONE, making it possible to completely wipe out your team and the enemy team at the same time. Two other scions that target just one person can be chosen to hit friend or foe. Another (Ultima) nukes your enemies ''and'' fully heals your side.
*** The reason most Scions and Illusion spells don't hit your team is because teleporting the entire team away temporarily is apparently part of the spell. Much like how the characters vanish when using summons in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''.
** ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'' did something similar: area spells would usually hit anyone within range, and the enemy had [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard the annoying habit of knowing when you were going to cast healing spells]].
* Some of the area-effect "[=MAP=]" attacks in the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series will target everyone in the line of fire, friend or foe, some won't. If you're lucky, the game will have a way to let you know which one it is ''before'' you let loose with it.
* ''VideoGame/{{Brigandine}}'' has this for its "geno" area-of-effect spells (Geno-Frost, Geno-Flame), and the slightly wider but slightly weaker "Holy Word". You don't have to fear harming your allies, and the enemy needs to be a bit more cautious when placing all its troops around you. However, the game also includes several area-of-effect spells that ''do'' harm your allies - and, while a few of the stronger tank-type heroes have the a-o-e spells, they're mostly found on weaker heroes who shouldn't be toe-to-toe with the enemy, making the spell's range a little less impressive.
* Averted in most of Creator/NipponIchi's {{Strategy RPG}}s, from ''VideoGame/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.
** In the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series, characters are incapable of damaging themselves with their own area attacks, but anyone else is free game. However, there's an evility in 3 and 4 makes the user friendly fire proof.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/VandalHearts 2'': All attacks hurt anyone in range, which if you plan badly or the enemy move can make attacks not only devastating for yourself but the enemies untouched. This made some powerful spells unusable in close combat, and the enemy could also sneak into the range of your healing spells.
** However, it's in full effect in the first game. Kind of necessary though, given there are a couple spells that hit all enemy targets within either 7 or 9 spaces of the caster.

* Averted in the ''{{VideoGame/XCOM}}'' series. Explosives can do damage to friendly units too close to the blast, as do stray rounds from standard weapons.
** Notably, this works for the computer enemies as well. Seeing a Snakeman [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy accidentally shoot its]] [[DemonicSpiders Cryssalid]] ally while [[KickTheDog trying to kill a civilian]] was a true SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}.
** If one or more of your soldiers go berserk, they will start spinning and shooting, often hitting anyone near them. Since soldiers aren't usually facing one another, and side and rear armor is much weaker, those can result in one-hit kills.
* Averted in the ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'' series. Inaccuracy can and will hurt your own team. Sometimes, however, it's worth it.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'''s PVP mode, players on the same team can't hurt each other and players who have PVP turned off can't be harmed by other players. This applies to melee weapons and bullets (both physical and magical), but not to environmental damage, which will damage any players (including the one who triggered it) regardless of their status. Explosives of any kind, rolling boulders, and arrow turrets are treated as environmental damage.

* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey,'' you cannot harm your allies during the Conquest Battles. Which is convenient, seeing as it's 100v100 soldiers not including mercenaries, and many of your more powerful and useful moves against crowds have very wide reaches that will also strike your tightly packed allies more often than not. Though it still staggers or knocks them down, you won't harm nor kill anyone on your team.

* Dominator guns in ''Anime/PsychoPass'' automatically change settings (Executioner or Nonlethal Paralyzer) or lock up depending on the target's Psycho Pass. Most of the plot is set in motion by Makishima creating a way to bypass this.

* In the ''Literature/BloodAngels'' novels, the Spear of Telesto, signature weapon of the Blood Angels' Primarch Sanguinius, has a [[FireBreathingWeapon flamethrower attack]] that will incinerate anything else that's flammable. Unless it's another Blood Angel, in which case it just gives them the equivalent of a mild sunburn.
* ''Literature/CodexAlera'''s [[WolfMan Canim]] carry bloodstones that render them immune to their own side's very nasty, very large-scale battlefield BloodMagic. Things get [[TheWorfBarrage interesting]] when [[CrazyAwesome Tavi]] gets his hand on one.

* The ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' system gave Clerics the ability to channel healing spells either to exclusively restore party members or to invoke ReviveKillsZombie.
* Averted in ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' for their Area powers. They can be made Selective although it is more expensive for actual attacks than for effects that do something like impose concealment. [=GMs=] are also encouraged in the manual to be stingy in allowing this modifier because it removes a good deal of the balance involved in area attacks vs. single-player attacks. Also, attacks can only be selective where the attacker is aware of the targets to be excluded. Dependent on descriptors, selective attacks may miss hidden enemies or hit hidden allies.

* Also averted in ''TabletopGame/TheWitcherGameOfImagination''. All sorts of projectiles, spells and signs will hit, hurt and kill whatever ended up as their final target or around it. Which renders area-of-effect spells - aka most of them - virtually useless in the heat of combat.
* Mostly averted in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'', where bullets and explosions kill indiscriminately, but played straight with smartguns: Not only will the gun avoid firing at friendlies when doing full-auto sweeps, it also conserves ammo by not firing at the scenery.

* ZigZagged in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''; normal shooting cannot hit your own units (the justification being that the units find the right lines of fire to not shoot their comrades). Template weapons such as frag missiles, certain heavy weapons and grenades, on the other hand, can hurt friendly units if they scatter into their ranks -- except in 8th edition, which does away with templates entirely.

** There are some combinations of wild Pokémon, such as Zangoose and Seviper or Zobiris and Carbink, that always attack each other instead of the player if they use single-target moves.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* While tanks ''really'' aren't this trope when referring to their main guns, they do count when talking about small arms not specifically designed to penetrate tank armor. For this reason, tanks carry [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canister_shot canister shot]] for dealing with infantry at close range, which they can use to "scratch the back" of another tank to [[ChunkySalsaRule utterly obliterate]] any infantry trying to climb onto it.

** Notably, this works for the computer enemies as well. Seeing a Snakeman [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy accidentally shoot its]] [[DemonicSpiders Cryssalid]] ally while [[KickTheDog trying to kill a civilian]] was a true CrowningMomentOfFunny.

->'''Dorian''': Cole, you should be careful dancing around with those daggers when I'm throwing fire.\\
'''Cole''': It won't hurt me. It's friendly fire.\\
'''Dorian''': That doesn't always mean what you think it means.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', Guild leader Makarov has an attack called ''Fairy Law'' that only damages people whom he views as his enemies, leaving everyone and everything else unharmed.
** [[spoiler: Later, JerkAss Laxus tries to use this ''on his own teammates'' because he claims that their weakness is getting in his way, and therefore they are his enemies. In the end, the attack does no damage, because he doesn't actually believe this is true.]]
* The Majin Hunter in ''Manga/SoulEater'' doesn't harm {{Muggle}}s, so Maka has free reign to [[spoiler: rip Medusa's soul right out of the innocent little girl she's occupying]].

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Machinima ]]

-->'''Church''': Oh ''no''! '''[[YouAlreadyChangedThePast I'm]]''' the team-killing fucktard!

[[folder: Podcast ]]
* Averted viciously in ''Podcast/CriticalHit'', a real play ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaign. In accordance with the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' tabletop game example below, a mage has to be very, very careful with the placement of the spells. Being the BigGuy in the party that consists mostly of arcane casters, Torq ends up being set on fire by allies so often that it becomes a RunningGag. But he is far from the only one to be caught in the area of effect spells cast by allies, and every party members experiences it at least once, some by their own spells. [[SquishyWizard Orem]] eventually took a feat that allows him to invoke FriendlyFireproof by giving his spells a penalty to attack rolls against allies (meaning that allies are less likely to be hit by the spell than enemies are), but, as the party quickly discovered, it does not help when the eponimous critical hit is rolled.

[[/folder]]

* Averted in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', 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 4th Edition, ''all'' divine magic operated this way, and arcane magic almost never did. (Apparently the gods are quick to spare your allies, while raw power doesn't care.)

** The ''Pathfinders'' system gave Clerics the ability to channel healing spells either to exclusively restore party members or to invoke ReviveKillsZombie.

* ZigZagged in ''[[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}} Warhammer 40K]]''; normal shooting cannot hit your own units (the justification being that the units find the right lines of fire to not shoot their comrades). Template weapons such as frag missiles, certain heavy weapons and grenades, on the other hand, can hurt friendly units if they scatter into their ranks - except in 8th edition, which does away with templates entirely.

[[folder: Real Life]]

** It gets better since certain weapons do a downwards swing that will crush a zombie skull. It gets worse when you attempt to save a survivor using that weapon. Why? Let's just say that survivor's can't take a 2x4 [[spoiler: (or at times sledgehammers)]] to the face.

* ''VideoGame/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.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' does the hell out of this. Say you have a ton of darkspawn coming at you and are on such a difficulty level that friendly fire is turned off. You can nuke said darkspawn with...oh, lets go with Inferno...WHILE STANDING IN THE GIANT PILLAR OF FLAME WITHOUT FLINCHING! In addition, you can even have conversations with party members and [=NPCs=] while ON FIRE. And this is without any snarky commentary or anything.

** A notable aversion of this (hence playing the trope even straighter) is VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends, where no ability or attack in the game can damage anything on the user's side. This is a JustifiedTrope in the lore, however: any set of Champions could end up on the same side, and there are several pairs (such as [[CainAndAbel Kayle and Morgana, Nasus and Renekton,]] [[WorthyOpponent Rengar and Kha'zix]]) who would ignore the team's welfare for the chance to kill each other, so the friendly fireproofing has to be completely airtight.
*** Though there's still not a shortage of ways to get your allies killed. Jarvan IV, Anivia, Taliyah, Bard, and Tahm Kench are all known for "accidentally" killing teammates with abilities that are supposed to be helpful.

** It get's better since certain weapons do a downwards swing that will crush a zombie skull. It get's worse when you attempt to save a survivor using that weapon. Why? Let's just say that survivor's can't take a 2x4 [[spoiler: (or at times sledgehammers)]] to the face.

* Frustratingly sporadic in the current version of ''Bowmaster: Winter Storm''; arrows that deal damage directly instead of having [[TrickArrow some special area effect]] will go right through friendly deployed units... Except when they don't. The arrow that can [[OneHitPolykill go right through targets]] will only avoid going through your guard most of the time, while the [[HealingShiv arrows that heal their targets]] can heal enemy units if fired into close combat.