FitzTheRuke
Legend
What about a spell like wall of fire?
It doesn't refer to creatures damaged by it as "targets" at any point, and you don't designate any creatures to be affected by it, neither by pointing a nasty thing at them nor by doing any other things. Creatures only take damage by standing inside the fire or standing up to 10' away from the side that deals damage.
Is wall of fire "targeting" a creature that walks into its damage area, or is it simply a persistent fire which, y'know, burns things which foolishly approach too close?
Well, yes and no. You are not targeting people with the spell if they walk into it, but they are targets of the spell itself. As are you, if you walk into the wrong side.
It's a gray area when you drop it down and line it up on enemies. They would then be targets, and you'd probably count as the one doing it. But it would be up to your DM.
A spell's target is anyone who is effected by it. That's just how the game works. (And it's a separate use of the word "target" from the one that allows you to pick the origin point of a radial area of effect - though they wind up being the same thing on single-target spell attacks).