How is it catastrophic? Can't you tell the qualitative difference between completing Donkey Kong 101%, getting all 120 stars in Mario 64 and getting an achievement for "playing on hard mode 450 times"?
Why would I care to share my gaming activity? Do we have to turn everything into a facebook kind of life-style? If I really care about showing someone what I have achieved in a game, I can still tell them about it instead of advertising my exploits online. Sorry, but I am not interested in the new-wave 'social' aspects of gaming that have been introduced. Achievements offer nothing over the previous systems of awarding gamers for playing a game (in the form of in-game rewards, unlockable levels, completion rates, etc). There is no reason to shoehorn yet another form of extending the game time arbitrarily. I prefer my games to have content and substance, not shiny things.
