Yeah, caring about a high gamerscore is stupid. Who the hell cares about high scores? What kind of gamer would ever care about getting a high number.
/me looks at pretty much every game from the atari era
Oh, wait. That doesn't work...
Seriously though. Do I care about high gamerscores and the like? Nope. But I can see why people do. It is the same reason that people played Ms Pacman or Asteroids for so long. It is the same reason people play MMOs or any other game involving grinding. It gives them a sense of accomplishment, and it provides a way to compare against other people.
You do realize that people would freak out the same way you are if they heard that we might play through parts of a game we don't really enjoy because the story is so good (I am looking at you Meat Circus in Psychonauts :p) or that we would care at all about a game without a story (seriously, what is playing Unreal Tournament but grinding? :p).

As far as story goes and defiantly in psychonauts if you have invested time into the game aready and the story is great then you want to finish it to find out what happens next. I don't really find it the same as grinding out a gamerscore, you know where thats going.
Unreal Tournament may seem grindy and pointless but if you are having fun with the game even with gameplay that will eventually seem repetative then thats what matters.
I would hope the person in the article is getting something out of playing the metagame. I would assume that they are getting more enjoyment out of the fact they are increasing their score then being bored in more then half the games. They could also have just been doing it so long now they don't realise what a waste of time(not that I don't consider it a waste myself) it is and they could actually be having fun doing something else.

Really? What is the difference between getting a high score in Asteroids or Ms Pacman or Breakout (all of which can get very frustrating at times) and wanting to get a high score at Gamerscore?
We all have issues. Each and every one of us.

She doesn't have serious issues unless the ramifications of her actions are serious, such as being an absent mother, or using so much money on new games she can't afford to pay the rent. It seems that is not the case.
Just because somebody goes a little bit farther than most at a completely innocent activity, hobby even, doesn't mean they're sick and should be heavily medicated and put behind lock and key.
If somebody was using all their spare cash on collecting rare south-american buttons, you wouldn't think twice (except that the person might have picked a rather peculiar obsession). As soon as it's video games though, the ball is rolling.

Yeah, its like the time they persecuted me for dismembering women and burying the bits in my back yard, it was like 3 a week at most, I didn't have a problem!

Well you deserved it. I mean, the back yard? Really? That's ALWAYS the first place they look.

Wow...and I thought I was an achievement whore....
Honestly, I like the achievements because it just shows what I am good at in a game (Sucks I can't use XboxLive). But this bitch has some serious issues!

And the last place they look is in the walls and floor boards.

The difference is: one you enjoy, the other you seldom really enjoy but put yourself through because it's an addiction.
But some of us have more issues than National Geographic.

lol chicks

Xbox live gamerscore is the most successful MMO ever created.
/Thread.

I have the same problem. The other day I whored 34 achievements on TF2, and I haven't actually liked the game for months.
For some reason, I just have to have all the weapons.

Posts have numbers next to the link button. Just match the text with the quote numbers and you won't have any problems, though it is extra work, lets hope one of those big 3 annoucements is a working forum.

They're buying and playing some of the worst games out there for no other reason than to bolster a completely meaningless number. The number and its growth are all that matters to them. That's not comparable to casually enjoying something. That's not comparable to enjoying something at all. That's either OCD or some kind of addiction.