I think you are right on the money with your thoughts on virtual avatars. I've already noticed this phenomenon cropping up in some niches.

1. the phenomenon of VTubers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_YouTuber

2. in the virtual animal crossing late night show, Animal Talking, the presenter's (Gary Whitta) avatar doesn't really resemble how the presenter looks in real life https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Talking_with_Gary_Whi...

3. I watch a lot of interview s with people in VR Chat and it's very interesting how people seem to find it easier(?) to open up while they are embodying a character. https://youtu.be/KZWOXgc7PA4

Being able to experiment with identity in this way is really interesting to me, and I hope it becomes more mainstream with the proliferation of this technology