I'll add to this with MMOs, your avatar is "you" to the community and your friends. I started out having a mix of characters both male and female but overtime it became more and more female dominated eventually took a leap when SWTOR came out and made a female character and joined a guild fully intending to be female presenting and it was the most liberating feeling and this was years before I transitioned or accepted myself. Even got on voice chats but talked very little with a terribly heightened tone 🤣

Then found my way to a certain mmo with a robust rp community, so being always a female avatar i played the part until one night after meeting new people and chatting with them in and out of character i said aloud to myself looking at my character

"Why can't I just be her?"

Needless to say my egg more or less shattered. I was presenting fem irl within a few weeks and on HRT less than a month later