ROM hacking is another story entirely. My inspiration there came from RPGe's successful and ground-breaking translation of Final Fantasy 5. And, I'll be honest. Totally free exposure to hundreds upon hundreds of commercial quality games is a plus as well. I also appreciate the technical benefits that emulation has to offer.
Emulators can be powerful debugging tools.
Many people believe that the emulation community is dead or dying, or that emulation is on its way out. Call me an optimist, but I think that as long as people enjoy emulation, it will never go away. As for the translation subculture, it's hard to predict where it is or where it's headed, but I do know that big things are on the horizon. If there were any emulators I'd like to see developed, I'd develop them myself. Honestly, though, I think between the emulators that have already been released and the ones that are currently under development, everything is pretty much covered.