Avatar Interaction Permissions and Settings

Under the Settings tab of the Quick Menu, you can adjust who can and cannot interact with your avatar.

For someone to be able to interact with your avatar, both parties must explicitly allow interactions with each other.

A full guide is visible at any time using the "Learn More" button.

You can find the Avatar Interactions settings in the far-right tab on the Quick Menu that looks like a gear icon.

Mode - Specifies who you want to allow to interact with you. You can choose between "Friends", "Everyone", and "Nobody". It defaults to Friends.
Allow/Pause Interactions - This globally turns on or off all interactions, regardless of your settings.
Self Interact - Toggles interaction with your own avatar.

You can click "Learn More" to see a pop up with instructions at any time.

A new icon appears on nameplates that shows the permission status of any user you see.

If the hand is grayed out, that user is not permitting interactions with you. If it is lit up, interactions are enabled.

You can override settings per-user by clicking on a user, much like the per-user Show Avatar system. This is saved between sessions.

You may also immediately pause all interactions globally with a pause button on the Quick Menu.

Finally, hitting the "PANIC" button will also pause all interactions, in addition to changing your Safety system Shield setting to the Maximum level.