The art of manliness, Duolingo, etc even at the company where I work they give away badges to foster that sense of belonging,
I think it is a good system.
But it is good as long as their badges system is backed up, I mean that their system has some value to start with. If it has value, even as time passes the value of the system and its badges will not decrease, on the contrary it will increase as time passes.
