Have a modern DMD, early SS, and EMs in my (so far) modest collection. Generally speaking, my preference runs in the reverse order, a trend that has been increasing for quite a few years now -- even though I've only owned pins for a little over a year, at this point. I've been a player since well before college days, a long time ago.
EMs, a.k.a. "traditional pinball", are the real deal. (That said, I was never down with those damn 2" flippers.) More often than not, the toys, gizmos, and speech of "modern" pinball is mainly a distraction, and beside the point. Yes, modes, more complex objectives, and deeper rulesets can add something of value, but this is not a given, and does involve tradeoffs.
I don't seem to be meeting any collectors who are free of this "curse" of tiring of their pins -- often sooner rather than later -- and wanting to move them OUT in favor of acquiring others. I think all the gimmicks and the soon overly familiar dialog only accelerates this "getting tired of it" factor. It's kind of the opposite of the long-term-keeper status, which you are much more likely to find in the great EMs and select early SS games, before they had much if anything to say. Just my opinion. The EMs also hew much more to fundamental pinball skills, rather than finding rules and loopholes some more knowledgeable players can exploit.
If I'm ever able to assemble a larger collection, EMs would be a mainstay of it.
