In games based in modern or futuristic times, splash damage is usually inflicted by explosives such as rocket launchers and grenades or by orbital and aerial strikes, however in fantasy games, especially role-playing games, splash damage is usually inflicted through offensive spells. An attack which inflicts splash damage in role-playing games or real-time strategy games is referred to as an AoE or area of effect attack and while in some situations these attacks will only damage enemies, it is common in real-time strategy games and in first-person shooter games even more so, for splash damage to affect player-controlled characters and their allies.
Area of effect attacks commonly work by either damaging enemies in a pre-selected area, damaging enemies around a specific targeted enemy or by damaging all enemies around the character controlled by the player. In some situations the closer to the edge of the damage radius a character is, the less damage they will take from AoE attacks and in most situations where the AoE attack targets a specific enemy, the enemy targeted will receive a certain amount of 'direct damage', while enemies around them will receive a lesser amount of damage known as 'fall-off damage'.
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