# AreaTrigger.setCharacterDetection

When set to true the area trigger can calculate which characters are inside of the trigger and get the collision information.

**Kind:** Function

**Environments:** Game

## Game

``` { .lua .api-signature }
areaTrigger:setCharacterDetection( detectCharacters )
```

[Open the full Game reference](../Game-Script-Environment/Userdata/AreaTrigger.md#setcharacterdetection)

with a call to [AreaTrigger](../Game-Script-Environment/Userdata/AreaTrigger.md): getCharacters

**Parameters:**

| Name | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `areaTrigger` | [AreaTrigger](../Game-Script-Environment/Userdata/AreaTrigger.md) | The area trigger instance. |
| `detectCharacters` | boolean | Character detection on or off. |