There is a close correlation between the price of HIVE and how successful Hive is. Fewer want to write, play, and develop on Hive when the price has one direction on the long term. Theoretically, a low price would attract investors if they see the potential, but we don't see many of them around. I'm not saying it for myself, but the signals are pretty clear, unfortunately. Reverse the price trend (not so easy to do), and make it last more than a few weeks, and we will see Hive come to life again.
A higher price of HIVE (which probably implies more investors and dapps having recurring revenue streams), would likely allow us some more room for... generosity. But not too much, I guess, because we have the experience of Splinterlands to show us spending left and right when you are on high horses can bring you way back down rapidly. And we are not on high horses now on Hive, quite the opposite.