After reading some of the newer comments about achievements, it got me thinking about Stackoverflow's community system, where people have "reputation" points and how that helps build a community. Something similar to what you are saying about badges and a bit of free itch money or even extra exposure could be hugely useful. Nothing concrete, but I think there's something there. (Of course there's other similar systems like Reddit's Karma, but Stackoverflow came to mind because it's a fairly nice community. I do worry about ranking people, feels a bit off)