If you want to cast blame for prices being the way they are, look no further than the Cryptsy scandal. Taking that much money out of the trading game was brutal for many of the alts. Many people gave up altogether after that. It's pathetic how the greedy few think it's ok to steal money that others have worked so hard for.
There is an element that stakes sprouts as an equipment free mining alternative. These people sell stakes immediately when they are created because they just want the BTC. It's no big deal. This coin is not dead like 99% of all the other alts out there. Cryptsy is definitely not helping.
BTW, anyone know how many sprouts were in cryptsy?