I kinda get what H_C is saying, my standpoint is that now-a-days it's gotten much more commercialized than when I started in the hobby. But the thing is, there was always a present marketable angle to this hobby. Without it the hobby wouldn't have progressed. Guys like Andy (Ultimarc), Randy(GroovyGameGear), even John/Saint has benefited from marketing this hobby, and vendors have been supplying solutions for getting our projects completed for a long time now. Mind, they're not all-in-one solutions like we have now, but the point is there was always a commercial/marketable side to this hobby. It's just more prevalent and larger scoped these days due to more and more people getting into the scene. To say that this is a new thing is naive.
Using those all-in-one solutions for eliminating the software setup of things is a trade-up. Building your own PC based emulation rig is still the best option out of all these solutions. PC set-ups still have the best compatibility, emulation options, and less lag and display problems than what you can get in a pandora box, for example. Yes, these Pandora boxes can output arcade resolutions, but the emulation is sub-par. The video modes are not accurate, especially in CPS2/3 (image cropping persists), have weird filters applied, and any vertical game being crunched down and forced to be displayed in horizontal orientation looks really bad. Not to mention the shearing and inaccurate video timings. Even input lag is bad on these emulation devices.
Re: the lack of "hobby" in the hobby H_C was getting at, I think he's just focused on the interfacing with emulation, where I think it's worse than just these all-in-one solutions. It relates to what a lot of the older members here have been saying, there's a lack of innovation in projects these days. There are a bunch of factors that have contributed to this, but I mainly blame the pre-cut CNC kits that are available today (sorry Lee, I still <3 you though!) and not these all-in-one boards like the Pandora's box, or the 60in1's.
Gone are the days where you'd see new designs being made on a frequent basis. I would say maybe a year before I joined, around 2007 to about 2010 was the sweet spot for innovated, new projects that were progressing the hobby with fresh ideas and solutions. Great themed cabinets were being made then, with unique shapes, interesting control solutions, and real DIY problem solving. Now-a-days you have a very small handful of people still doing this, but for the most part your average joe-shmo just getting into the hobby now is going to just buy a pre-built cabinet kit, slap on some "photochopped" mismatched artwork on it, fit an all-in-one software solution into them and be happy with that. Either that or they just copy that ---fracking--- Flynn cabinet, which is propagating that poorly designed CP every single time.
The hobby has definitely become "vanilla", but the problem isn't really the marketable/commercialization of it, the problem is the hobbyists are a different breed/age-group now. People are lazier these days, or fearful of failure that they take the easy short-cuts to get a functional cabinet put together. Or they lack vision or the experience of the old arcade days (I'm looking at you, millennial trendsters). It's like the hobby lost it's edge. There is no real pre-thought put into their themes, or any forethought on where they see their projects sitting 10+ years from now.
Honestly I just want the unique designs, cabinet shapes and themes to come back. Something that as a whole is cohesive and complete. Not these samey half-assed pre-cut cabinets and bartops we keep seeing posted these days. Whenever I see those projects threads I can't help but think "why even bother posting a thread for this?".