diff --git a/Assets/Scripts/Components/Controller/PlayerCharacterController.cs b/Assets/Scripts/Components/Controller/PlayerCharacterController.cs
index 48fe433..df29f00 100644
--- a/Assets/Scripts/Components/Controller/PlayerCharacterController.cs
+++ b/Assets/Scripts/Components/Controller/PlayerCharacterController.cs
@@ -151,6 +151,14 @@ public class PlayerCharacterController : MonoBehaviour
     /// </summary>
     public bool ControlEnabled { get; set; } = true;
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// When false, gravity, ground-stick and slope-sliding are suspended and the vertical velocity is
+    /// held at rest, so the avatar hovers at its spawn position instead of settling. Set by the
+    /// GameModeManager during the pre-Hide loading barrier (alongside <see cref="ControlEnabled"/>) and
+    /// restored when the Hide phase begins.
+    /// </summary>
+    public bool GravityEnabled { get; set; } = true;
+
     /// <summary>
     /// When set, the body faces this world-space yaw (degrees) every frame instead of turning toward its
     /// movement direction. First-person sets it so the character always faces where the camera looks;
@@ -418,20 +426,30 @@ public class PlayerCharacterController : MonoBehaviour
         // (also covers balancing on a sharp box edge).
         float slopeAngle = Vector3.Angle(_groundNormal, Vector3.up);
         bool onSteepSlope = slideDownSteepSlopes
+            && GravityEnabled
             && _controller.isGrounded
             && slopeAngle > _controller.slopeLimit + 0.01f;
 
-        if (_controller.isGrounded)
+        if (!GravityEnabled)
         {
-            if (_verticalVelocity < 0f)
-                _verticalVelocity = groundedStickVelocity;
-
-            // No jumping off a slope too steep to stand on.
-            if (jumpPressed && !onSteepSlope)
-                _verticalVelocity = Mathf.Sqrt(jumpHeight * -2f * gravity);
+            // Loading barrier freeze: no gravity or ground-stick, hold vertical velocity at rest so the
+            // avatar keeps its spawn position (movement input is already cut via ControlEnabled).
+            _verticalVelocity = 0f;
         }
+        else
+        {
+            if (_controller.isGrounded)
+            {
+                if (_verticalVelocity < 0f)
+                    _verticalVelocity = groundedStickVelocity;
 
-        _verticalVelocity += gravity * Time.deltaTime;
+                // No jumping off a slope too steep to stand on.
+                if (jumpPressed && !onSteepSlope)
+                    _verticalVelocity = Mathf.Sqrt(jumpHeight * -2f * gravity);
+            }
+
+            _verticalVelocity += gravity * Time.deltaTime;
+        }
 
         Vector3 slideVelocity = Vector3.zero;
         if (onSteepSlope)
diff --git a/Assets/Scripts/GameMode/GameModeManager.cs b/Assets/Scripts/GameMode/GameModeManager.cs
index e225ed3..33e76dd 100644
--- a/Assets/Scripts/GameMode/GameModeManager.cs
+++ b/Assets/Scripts/GameMode/GameModeManager.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using UnityEngine;
 using Unity.Cinemachine;
+using Chameleon.Components;
 #if ENABLE_INPUT_SYSTEM
 using UnityEngine.InputSystem;
 #endif
@@ -329,14 +330,24 @@ public class GameModeManager : MonoBehaviour
         // without a camera jump (exactly like SetPaused's resume - the mode was never Exited).
         if (MovementGated())
         {
-            if (player) player.ControlEnabled = false;
+            if (player)
+            {
+                player.ControlEnabled = false;
+                player.GravityEnabled = false; // hover in place; don't settle to the floor while loading
+            }
             if (painter) painter.PaintingEnabled = false;
+            // Hide the own body so the frozen avatar doesn't hang in the half-loaded world. Re-asserted every
+            // frame (not once) because a lobby->match respawn rebinds `player` mid-load, so the fresh avatar
+            // must be hidden too.
+            SetOwnerBodyHidden(true);
             _loadFrozen = true;
             return;
         }
         if (_loadFrozen)
         {
             _loadFrozen = false;
+            if (player) player.GravityEnabled = true; // Enter() doesn't touch gravity, so restore it here
+            SetOwnerBodyHidden(false);                 // show the body, then let Enter() re-hide it if first-person
             ActiveMode?.Enter();
         }
 
@@ -382,6 +393,35 @@ public class GameModeManager : MonoBehaviour
                match.LocalSubPhase == MatchManager.MatchSubPhase.Loading;
     }
 
+    // Cached body/fur renderers of the currently bound local avatar, re-resolved only when `player` changes
+    // (a lobby->match respawn rebinds mid-load), so the per-frame Loading hide doesn't walk the hierarchy each tick.
+    private PlayerCharacterController _bodyHideOwner;
+    private SkinnedMeshRenderer[] _bodyHideRenderers;
+    private FurShellRenderer[] _bodyHideFur;
+
+    /// <summary>Hides/shows the LOCAL player's own body (skinned mesh + fur) during the pre-match loading freeze,
+    /// so the owner doesn't watch its frozen avatar hang in the half-loaded world. Local-only (renderer.enabled
+    /// is not replicated, so remotes are unaffected - their view is driven by <see cref="NetworkPlayerSetup"/>).
+    /// On show the freeze release re-enters the active mode, so first-person re-applies its own-body self-hide.</summary>
+    private void SetOwnerBodyHidden(bool hidden)
+    {
+        if (player != _bodyHideOwner)
+        {
+            _bodyHideOwner = player;
+            _bodyHideRenderers = player ? player.GetComponentsInChildren<SkinnedMeshRenderer>(true) : null;
+            _bodyHideFur = player ? player.GetComponentsInChildren<FurShellRenderer>(true) : null;
+        }
+
+        if (_bodyHideRenderers != null)
+            foreach (var r in _bodyHideRenderers)
+                if (r) r.enabled = !hidden;
+        // Fur draws via a GPU-instanced camera hook, not a Renderer, so the skinned-mesh toggle misses it;
+        // disabling the component unsubscribes that hook (mirrors FirstPersonController.SetMeshHidden).
+        if (_bodyHideFur != null)
+            foreach (var f in _bodyHideFur)
+                if (f) f.enabled = !hidden;
+    }
+
     /// <summary>First non-Paint mode index at or after <paramref name="start"/> (wrapping once through the
     /// cycle); -1 if the set has no non-paint mode (a degenerate paint-only configuration).</summary>
     private int FirstNonPaintFrom(int start)
diff --git a/Assets/Scripts/Network/MatchManager.cs b/Assets/Scripts/Network/MatchManager.cs
index e7e3eb4..47b8327 100644
--- a/Assets/Scripts/Network/MatchManager.cs
+++ b/Assets/Scripts/Network/MatchManager.cs
@@ -605,6 +605,13 @@ public class MatchManager : MonoBehaviour
 
     private IEnumerator MatchSequence(HashSet<ulong> hunterIds)
     {
+        // Freeze everyone in Loading BEFORE unloading the lobby: the lobby floor vanishes a moment before the
+        // map's is loaded, so the still-bound lobby avatars would otherwise drop into the void during the swap.
+        // Loading gates movement, gravity AND the local own-body mesh on every client (see GameModeManager); the
+        // readiness barrier below (BeginLoadingBarrierServer re-asserts Loading) holds that hold until every
+        // client has the map + all match avatars ready, then Hide releases it.
+        SetPhaseServer(MatchSubPhase.Loading, 0f);
+
         yield return SwapScenes(lobbySceneName, matchSceneName);
 
         RespawnAll(id => hunterIds.Contains(id) ? hunterPrefab : hiderPrefab, matchSpawnCenter);