In the interim I have played both CoC, and DG; as well as releasing my own game, Solis People of the Sun/Kosmic a hard-ish sfrpg, like gritty solarpunk.I tried to play 5e when it came out, it wasn't very satisfying, I could chalk it up to an inexperienced GM, but it is what it is. Various stuff I have played recently is Traveller (classic) running a game mostly from the free starter set download on drive thru. Some Mythras, and some M-Space; I'd like to play a Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green game, that would be cool.
I guess I'm not really disagreeing insofar that I'm not going to disagree with your person view of D&D. I personally enjoy D&D, even if I've not been playing it for over a year. Lots of people are obviously enjoying it and sticking with it because they enjoy it and are familiar with it. Do I think they are missing out on a lot of great games that can provide different experiences, sure. But some people like what they like and don't have an interest in branching out. As you said, different strokes and all that.Tbh if that's your counterpoint to my first sentence then I'm not convinced they actually conflict at all. I'm not denying DnD can be massively effective as a gateway (although so many people seem to just stay with it which imo is a crying shame) I'm just saying for me personally, 5e pretty much sucks both as a setting and as a system. Very one dimensional and I find that people end up reaching for the most grating, corny fantasy stereotypes with it.
Or were you just disagreeing with me that it sucks in general and going on to make the point about it being a gateway? In which case I can't argue with that, different strokes and all...