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Part II: Windows
By the end of the decade Windows gaming was starting to come into its own. DirectX was becoming useful enough that developers were supporting it. This handled all of the driver nonsense for you. As long as you had the right driver installed in Windows, DirectX would configure the game for you. No more RAM shenanigans either. Installers could be a trip. Interstate '76 played a 'radio station' during install that gave some background on the setting as a news broadcast. It also, along with Outlaws, had one of the best original soundtracks ever.

https://youtu.be/N5CaowGC4U0?t=76
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjW0KYVZFFk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP8DVA3FD2Q

This was when PCs started to become more console like again. In the late 70s and early 80s you would just boot from a disk, tape or cartridge and start playing. Atari 800, Ti-99, Commodore 64. Simple. No configs, no bullshit. By the late 80s, when PCs were taking over and you had to deal with all sorts of expansion cards and RAM amounts, then you had to configure everything. Now, because of DirectX, you'd install a game and it would just work (well, mostly).

3D accelerators were also becoming a thing. They were kind of of shit though. You'd need a 2D card and a 3D accelerator. There were also two markets. Glide (3dfx cards) and Direct3D & OpenGL (everyone else). Many times game makers would only support one. So, maybe you couldn't play the newest game on the highest settings because you had the wrong card.

Online was really starting to take off too. Matchmaking services like The Microsoft Internet Gaming Zone, Kali, HEAT.NET were big. Graphical MMOs that supported thousands of people started to appear (Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron's Call), and many games had built in matchmaking services. Everything was dialup though, so having a ping under 400 was considered great. You'd message people from AOL or ICQ or MSN or Yahoo and everyone would pile into a game. It was a different time.