I tried a bunch of different gaming headsets over the years but as I got older and gave up on online games, I grabbed a pair of AudioTechnica ATH-M50 and have probably had them at least a decade now. They’re closed ear studio monitor headphones so they sound great and are comfortable with long use. I’ve replaced both the cushions and the cable and they still work great.
I think the current variant is the ATH-M50x.
The “small” games that inspired, if not invented it were Doom and D&D. There was a Doom map called Fortress where you’d attack each other’s base and the further you’d progress into your opponent’s base, the better weapons it’d unlock for them to use.
A few guys in Australia combined the ideas in a Quake mod called Quake Team Fortress. Then they got hired at Valve to remake it on the Half Life engine as Team Fortress Classic.
I think the “Microsoft dilemma” is just called capitalism. If you’re not making all the money, you’re losing the game.
Do you have vsync off? Probably not the culprit since it’s a crash, but I frequently get odd performance issues on the OLED model with Vsync on.