GRC is supposed to be altruistic

That may be the perception by some, but this has never been an official stance within the Gridcoin network. For-Profit and non-scientific projects are likely going to be a reality in the future.

he's made no movement there in a long time

Similar to the vast majority of the BOINC network, they have become inactive in crunching due to real life situational changes.

I was more excited to do research for research sake, and others are playing a different game.

You can do that without gridcoin, the introduction of gridcoin in the picture means you're playing the same game.