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We explore three directions for design: user-initiated personal bubbles, clarifying social norms, and encouraging bystander intervention. Through an iterative process, we first conducted a formative interview study to determine design goals for making these features effective, fit user needs, and robust to manipulation. We then implemented Puffer, an integrated safety system that includes a suite of proactive and instant-reactive features, as a social VR prototype. From an evaluation using simulated scenarios with participants, we find evidence that Puffer can help protect players during emergencies, foster prosocial norms, and create more positive social interactions. We conclude by discussing how system safety features can be designed to complement existing proactive and instant-reactive strategies, particularly for people with marginalized identities.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1145\/3757460","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,16]],"date-time":"2025-10-16T17:32:00Z","timestamp":1760635920000},"page":"1-38","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Building Proactive and Instant-Reactive Safety Designs to Address Harassment in Social Virtual Reality"],"prefix":"10.1145","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7076-3327","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhehui","family":"Liao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-2579-6664","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hanwen","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-3206-3360","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ayush","family":"Kulkarni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-0105-6238","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shaan","family":"Chattrath","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9462-9835","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Amy X.","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"320","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_2_1_1","volume-title":"DiGRA '20 Proceedings of the 2020 DiGRA International Conference: Play Everywhere. http:\/\/www.digra.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/digital-library\/DiGRA_2020_paper_272","author":"Sparrow Lucy","year":"2020","unstructured":"Sparrow Lucy A., Antonellos Madeleine, Gibbs Martin, and Arnold Michael. 2020. 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