In defense of litecoin:
- Solid network that didn't go down once since it went live
- Has been used as a testnet for bitcoin development
- Doesn't overhype itself. Promotes itself as the silver to bitcoin's gold
- Accepted as payment in many places due to speed and low fees (when was the last time you heard someone paying for coffee with ethereum?)
- Can be merge-mined with dogecoin

It's not actively developed because, like bitcoin, it was trying to solve the money problem and that it did. Not all cryptos need to be humongous projects that keep changing and introducing huge upgrades that may or may not be buggy.
 
When you buy stuff with fiat, do you think to yourself damn I wish this paper money had smart contracts?