Of course extract brewing is "real" homebrewing. When I buy all the ingredients at the store and formulate a recipe and make dinner from those ingredients, does the fact that some of those ingredients have been "processed" make me any less of a cook? Of course not.
I do, however, tend to think that the "kits" you buy, especially the prehopped ones, can be compared to Hamburger Helper. There's no guesswork, no creativity, just following directions and putting pre-measured ingredients into a pot. Sure, it's still homebrewing, but it compares to p/m and ag like cooking a meal from scratch compares to hamburger helper. That's not to denigrate either those who use kits, or those who make hamburger helper...I'm just saying, as with anything, there are varying degrees of difficulty and involvement that typically correspond with varying levels of creativity and, for me, passion and fun. My favorite brews so far are the ones that, instead of using a Papazian recipe, I've done tons of research into the style and formulated my own recipe from scratch. And I've yet to do an all-grain recipe!
So, all in all, I'd say the real change comes when you start making your own recipes, not whether you use 100% grains vs 40% grains vs steeping vs all extract.
Lastly, I'll say that I am planning to do AG sooner or later, but it seems to me that it will double the time that it takes to brew, and, quite honestly, I already catch sh!t from SWMBO for my 6-hour sessions. That, and it's a step up in terms of infrastructure/equipment that takes an investment of time and some money as well. The step up from steeping/extract to partial mash was simply borrowing another kettle from a friend, whereas the step up from p/m to ag will require much more. Not to mention that I have quite a bit of extract that I'll need to finish off before I ever even think about ag.
