Blocking Avatars

Blocking avatars

If another person is acting belligerent, annoying, or otherwise disruptive, you can choose to block that person, effectively silencing their voice chat and hiding their avatar for you personally. Your avatar and voice are also hidden from the blocked person. Others can still see and hear someone you have blocked unless they have also chosen to block that person.

Text chat is unaffected by blocking, but blocked avatars can be identified by the red circle around their profile portrait in the Chat panel and People panel.

Blocking persists until you unblock that person through their user profile, which is found in the People panel.

Note: To temporarily mute only someone's voice chat, see the article Muting avatars.

Blocking from the People panel

Take the following steps to block an avatar:

1. Open the People panel by choosing Socialize > Friends & People from the main menu.

2. Find the person you would like to block; if they are nearby they appear in the Nearby tab of the People panel. Otherwise, you can search for them by name in the Search tab or on your Friends tab.

3. Click the person's name to open their user profile.

4. In the user profile, click the Block button to block the avatar. This immediately removes them from your friends list, mutes their voice chat, and hides their avatar from your view. Their text chat remains visible. A red circle appears around their portrait in the People panel and Chat panel.

Notes:

• Other visitors to the scene can still see and hear avatars that you have blocked.

• If you block a existing friend they will be automatically removed from your friends list.

Click Block in someone's user profile in order to silence their voice chat and hide their avatar from your view. If the person is your friend, they are automatically removed from your Friends list.

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Click Unblock in someone's user profile in order to restore their voice chat and visibility. Friendship must be added again separately

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Unblocking from the People panel

To unblock someone you have blocked:

1. Open the People panel by choosing Socialize > Friends & People from the main menu.

2. Find the person you would like to unblock; if they are nearby they appear in the Nearby tab of the People panel. Otherwise, you can search for them by name in the Search tab.

3. Click the person's name to open their user profile.

4. In the user profile, click the Unblock button to unblock the avatar. Their avatar becomes visible again, their voice chat is audible again, and the ring around their portrait is returned to a gray color. Friendship must be restored separately.

Blocking a nearby avatar directly

Take the following steps in VR or desktop mode to block an avatar:

1. Look at the avatar and left-click or hold one of the grip buttons to view their identity and interaction options.

2. Press Block to silence that person's voice chat and make their avatar disappear from your view.

Because the person's avatar becomes hidden from your view, they cannot be unblocked using this method.

Press Block when looking at an avatar and left-clicking or holding a grip button.

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