I'm still holding on to my hypothesis in that the excitement was sustained in large part because this progress was something a regular person could partake in.

I'm still holding on to my hypothesis in that the excitement was sustained in large part because this progress was something a regular person could partake in. Most didn't, but they likely known some kid who was. And some of those kids run the gaming magazines. This was a time where, for 3D graphics, barriers to entry got low (math got figured out, hardware was good enough, knowledge spread), but the commercial market didn't yet capture everything. Hell, a bulk of those excited kids I remember, trying to do a better Unreal Tournament after school instead of homework (and almost succeeding!), they went on create and staff the next generation of commercial gamedev. (Which is maybe why this period lasted for about as long as it takes for a schoolkid to grow up, graduate, and spend few years in the workforce doing the stuff they were so excited about.)