Yes, credit feeding most certainly does ruin the fun of a lot of arcade-based games. I don't think the notion is elitist since it goes against the grain of how they were designed in the first place; rewarding players who were skilled to get far on a single coin/ticket.
Many of the design aspects do not have a chance to shine if you're feeding your way through for a single run and moving on from the game.
That said I don't really have a problem with how people choose to play their games. If having a variety of ways to enjoy games without impacting design intent is possible, I'm all for it. I've never felt right judging people for how they spend their time or playing a game the "wrong way". But I also don't think it's far fetched to say that there's games that can be more fun if played in a certain way.