I have several avatars in different worlds. Some of them are only avatars and some are connected to my real life identity. I find that the avas that have there own identity works better than when people actually knows who's behind the avatar. I think when people goes into a world like Second life they do not want to know who the other avatars real identity is. The illusion of the avatar is more important. I wonder if this will change or still work in the future. I know who many of my Second life friends are in real life and for me I think that ads to my different friendships but of course if you do SL for virtual sex you probably do not want to know your partners real life identity.
Imagination is really powerful.