Dead or dormant doesn't matter to a bagholder of EMC, what will matter to them is that the crypto is worthless as it is now. What good is it to them when there's no activities on it's Blockchain and who knows when a revival will happen or if it'll ever happen. The developers have probably moved on to other projects and are focusing all their innovations there, so we'll just have to wait and see what will happen to Emercoin, whether it will kickstart, remain dormant or become dead. Investing in altcoins is gamble, investors should buy them with the amount that they can afford to loose.
If you're into crypto just for the money, then yes, your EMC holdings would be worthless. But for me, tech/utility is what matters most (although I admit there wasn't anything innovative about Emercoin). Eventually, some developer (or group of developers) will pick up the project where the original developers left off. That's the beauty of open source.
I agree that altcoins are a gamble. Especially if you depend on them as some sort of long-term investment. You'll never know when exchanges (or devs) will stop supporting the altcoin of your choice. It's important to pay close attention to the market to help determine when you should cash out for profit (and avoid being left holding the bag). Just avoid investing more than what you can't afford to lose, and there should be nothing to worry about.
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