Something on my mind between Call of Cthlthu and DND.

I’m not sure how many people here play multiple systems, but I had a thought and wanted to get some opinions.

Right now I only play two TTRPG systems. I have been both a DM and a player for DnD 5e, though I was not very good at DMing. Currently, I am a Keeper for Call of Cthulhu, and I am getting ready to run Masks. After that, there are plans in my group to try Cyberpunk and Lancer.

What I have noticed is that in online spaces, DnD seems to get a lot of criticism. A common point is that DnD ends up being an amalgamation of house rules and ideas borrowed from other systems. People often complain that it does not handle things like horror or social interactions very well.

This made me wonder why DnD seems to be the main target of this kind of discussion.

For example, when I convinced my friends to try Call of Cthulhu, I was honestly worried they would think it felt too rules-light or lacking compared to DnD. Instead, they ended up loving it, which surprised me because I had to convince them pretty hard to try something other than DnD in the first place.

I understand that these systems have very different genres and power levels, but it still made me curious. Why do other systems not seem to get the same kind of criticism? Or does it mostly come down to DnD being so popular that it naturally attracts more complaints?