I actually find it a bit odd that Richard doesn't plug in at home. The amp and the guitar combined make the instrument.
At home I use a Zoom G3n multi effect thing. Either with headphones, or I connect to my hifi. It actually sounds pretty good. The trick is to build your own patches, not use the stock presets, which are mostly garbage.
I don't know, for me it's a combination of things. First, I'm lazy, so connecting a guitar to the amp is too much of work to me. Moreover, playing with amp is just too loud, I can't play loud because of the neighbours, then again I love to play at night when you can't use amps at all, because don't want to wake up everybody. So in every case going unplugged for practice is enough for me, I don't even bother plugging in when I transcribe songs, I just do it on an electric guitar without amp.
It really depends on what's going to do the work to achieve the sound you want. Effects and patches are great and 99% of budding guitarists will find everything they want there.
I find more in just my fingers and the fretboard first, and maybe some subtle amp effects when necessary. I've spent (well borrowed 😄) thousands on effects gear over the years. Even the high end stuff like the Kempers, Headrush, and helix, while a real step forward and absolutely brilliant, miss the warmth of a decent tube amp.
What I will say is that just like with current drum plugins, the next generation of guitar effects will be incredible.
But it really does depend on what you're doing. Sometimes you want unique, sometimes you want to sound like a boss distortion pedal through a transistor amp from 1985. To quote the master - it's all about serving the song....