Please no! HN should be about the content, not the people. Badges don't contribute to the community, rather they enforce ad hominem biases.
I recall a game developer saying that badges for achievement (Xbox Live! etc) are a sign that games are becoming less imaginative and less fun, and sticking badges in there is a way of getting the users to keep playing. Badge for reaching 100% completion in GTA 4? Screw that. My time is too precious.
I read that as "bing-less" which might also be a wise design choice.
It's hard to quit, though.
For the life of me I don't know how people do endless, repetitive bullshit on World of Warcraft either - I keep away from those that do. Seems like an utter waste of time, and I immediately think of the South Park episode 'World of Warcrack'.
Probably this (I get a redirect, so can't verify): Season 10 Episode 8 "Make Love, Not Warcraft". http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103797/
The community here rebelled (including me) because there was a feeling that high karma and something interesting to say were not necessarily correlated.