yogsloth: Once agian, if you must have a 3rd-party "achievement" in order to enjoy a game, you can simply make your own.
Take some post-it notes and write "killed a boss" or "won the game" or "spent 100 hours" or whatever, and just stick it to your monitor.
It has the exact same effect: nothing.
That's not the same thing, and it doesn't have the same effect for people who like Achievements. And for people who do like them, the effect isn't nothing. We receive pleasure from earning Achievements just the same as everyone else receives pleasure for accomplishing goals in any game.
The devs who make Achievements are also not a "third party," they are the primary party and original source.
As well, Achievements are certified by the game itself and sharable with anyone else online. The post-it note suggestion is not.
mqstout: They also destroy immersion when they occur.
Users who have that feeling can disable Achievements on their own machines, and then they won't destroy immersion or occur any more. That feeling is no reason to deprive Achievements from other users who do like them.