However, developers do kill coins by inaction, although it is a long process. Developers efforts should be directed to recruiting, or rewarding, new skilled coders who can stick with the project. Individuals are not a constant, but companies/large teams can be.
Core coders for a mature coin should stick to maintenance and technical improvements. Bitcoin is a good example.
Real coin life comes from third parties' implementing services around a coin. MtGOX was a good example of a third party service that helped build the Bitcoin economy. The core Bitcoin developers did not create MtGOX.
It is unreasonable to ask core developers to continue to develop services after they have built the infrastructure around a coin. Like Bitcoin and several other coins, VIA is a platform for distributed services. If you want to breathe life into VIA, figure out how to cultivate its ecosystem. Design a service for it. Harness its unique attributes to enrich yourself and add value to VIA in the process. One thing you can't say is that the infrastructure for services is not present in VIA. It's there by design.