I believe that people start up cyrptocurrencies because they either want to make some money or maybe experiment with the internet. It's basically like when a scientist test run a new gadget. It still is amazing how these cryptocurrencies live though. What do you think?
I think that several coins have been created as experiments or side projects, and have saturated the market beyond belief. There are however, several different companies/projects that are creating coins to help them achieve their mission, whatever that may be.
ICO's have further compounded this, because any business in any line of work, with a good proof of concept can now obtain their funding to start without getting absolutely reamed by a Private Equity Firm.
The goal IMO, is to find new coins that have a solid business plan, and something TANGIBLE to back themselves with. Everything else falls into a day trade pump/dump type scenario. Hype train leads the way..