Very long-time doge-illionaire here. I currently have about 1.3 million, though I've only ever spent around US$200 on them.

Yes, Dogecoin started out as a joke that quickly got way out of hand, and yes, Dogecoin doesn't have many unique features to set it apart from any other altcoin… except that Dogecoin started as a joke that quickly got way out of hand!

In other words, consider the typical content of subreddits and message boards and chat channels about Bitcoin and/or pretty much all popular altcoins versus the typical content of Dogecoin's subreddits and message boards and chat channels, particularly from someone who's entirely new to the concept of cryptocurrency.

Other coins: VALUATION FEDERAL RESERVE SCAM BLOCKCHAIN FIAT HACK LEGISLATION HASHRATE HARD FORK ALEX JONESIAN CONSPIRACY THEORIES ASIC SATOSHI WANK WANK WANK

Dogecoin: Hey, check out this silly thing I just made.

Dogecoin started off not taking itself very seriously, and the community has followed. As a result, the barrier to entry to the Dogecoin community and technology is much lower than Bitcoin or most others. It's very easy to come to Dogecoin for the lulz and just think of the currency itself as silly magic internet points… and then, if and when you're ready for it, you can start learning about mining and the blockchain and all the other things that make a cryptocurrency a cryptocurrency, and then from there start experiencing with others. Heck, that's how things worked out for me, and I know I'm not alone. (And the fact that I've made much pawfit over the last couple of years by just holding these silly magic internet points doesn't hurt at all.)

I think Steem/Steemit benefits for similar reasons. If you want to ignore the whole cryptocurrency aspect and just use Steemit as a blogging/discussion platform, you can. You don't have to worry about the technology behind it in order to get a lot of use out of it.