I would talk to them out of game. Invite them over together, or singly on a non game night and sit them down, and let them no that hey are hurting your feelings/pissing you off (or whatever it is your feeling
raw about).
I have been playing with the same folks for about 2 decades and sometimes folks just get burnt out. I am the primary DM for our group and I also invest a lot of time in world building and scenario writing. Sometimes it does not go as I would hope.
What I tend to do with players in my group who criticize my game is bring the session to a good stopping place and let them know that its
their turn to run for the next several sessions, and I make them run for a bit. I don't try and trash their games or anything that petty. I just make them run until they start to burn out. And they will burn out. All DMs have burnout days. And when I catch them on that burn out day I pull them aside at the end of the session and ask them if they would like for me to run again the next session. When they say "yes", I ask them to afford me the same respect that you gave to them when they were running.
I have found over the years that my players don't really complain all that much anymore. If they don't like the way a story is going they try and change it through good roleplay, or if they don't feel like they are getting enough loot, they become quite mercanary in game. But they really don't complain all that much. Because they don't want to have to be in the DM seat for a long time.
So honestly the TLDR version is, talk to the players in private, and get them to DM a little, it will change their perspective.
love,
malkav
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