I'd say, as a trophy, pretty pointless (especially with SAM being used by many), but as a personal achievement marker, it makes me try harder in some games to get 'one more achievement'. So, I'm 50/50 on them.

No, how else will I attract females.

Are Steam Achievements Pointless? > yes
why:
/common sense
/flood of games - p-p-pointless ...
/no point other than bragging
/time is of essence, achievements are a waste of time
/use more time on a game than you consider to be enough - being reminded you didn't
achieve killing 10000 of something or knifing 1000 of something ... kokujin kudasai
/i'm not 12 anymore (not that i ever collected achievements such as PS3/X360/...)
/their only purpose is to extend game time - if the "achievement-tasks" aren't fun, then you're being made fun of - hahaha

Should Steam offer to disable those completely from one's account and for all games? > yes
If i were to play a game extensively due to motivation/joy - i'd find out about stuff that is doable in games anyway
even without interwebs or guide, but that not the point - i don't need no map to show me wtf i can do in order to
check something off or, pop some weird symbol that i did.

Lastly - "Achievement Unlocker"
^ enjoy your hard earned achievement that you pulled for real, and neither brought you joy or anything
^ also enjoy the fact that shitload of people simply unlock those silly achievements automatically

I wouldn't say pointless but meaningless.

Achievements can give directions, milestones, let you know there are "secrets" to be found, alternative storylines and endings, play the game in a multitude of ways and extend the life of a game.
For example Binding of Isaac has many achievements and unlockables for playing the game with certain characters and in with which bosses you encounter, the more you unlock, the more endings to be found and playstyles to be tried.

Don't get me wrong though, there are some achievements which really seem stupid. Like Garrys Mod play for gazillion billion hours or L4D kill a gazillion billion zombies. We could do with less of that artificial life extending.

I don't think they should remove achievements. There are plenty of people who like 100% a game just to feel done with it.
If you think achievements are pointless, don't go for them and let those that like them continue their way of playing. :)

Yes, you do not get points for getting achievements so they are - in fact - pointless.

Honestly, I don't care about achievements that much, but they don't bother me too much either. Some kind of reward for getting achievements could be interesting, but the problem is that the "quality" (for the lack of a better word) is pretty much all over the board, with some achievements requiring you to replay a 200h game and others being 'click the credits button in the main menu', not to mention the unachievable ones.

And that isn't even getting into computer-aided-systematically-unlocked-achievement-logic (C.A.S.U.A.L. for short)

I find them almost necessary to enjoy the game. They add so much for me despite being so basic by comparison to Playstation Trophies or Xbox Achievements.

Yes, but in the very same way that gaming is.

If you've ever felt like you want to beat someone or another team in a multiplayer game, ever thought you want to improve your high score in a game that has them, ever thought you wanted to complete a level or defeat a boss then it's the same sort of thing. It's a challenge that doesn't give you anything tangible in the real world and it's all rather pointless.

Whereas Steam gives no visual pointers as to how well you are doing collecting achievements.

What about the Steam Achievement showcase? You're at least level 10, you could display that on your profile, you know...

Pointless? Yes.
But not more pointless than trophies on consoles, Steam trading cards, CS:GO skins, TF2 hats, Twitch emotes, or any other digital "goods" that serve no purpose other than collecting.

And that's the point (pardon me the paradox). They are stuff to collect. I think achievements are personal trackers, nothing more, but they are great to know how big effort you put into a game or all your games.
And for some devs they can also see how far did the people who bought the game progress in it. Which, in turn, is good for us too, because it's one thing if a game has 100,000 sales with promotions and bundles, but when you see in the global tracker that less than 1% reached the end, it may indicate that the game is far from being good enough to actually play and waste time on.

All video games are stupid, of course. That whole thing of, 'you're not really shooting terrorists or winning the World Cup, you're just pressing buttons' is patronizing and simplistic.

Yes they are. I know that feeling when chasing Platinum trophy on PS. Heh, Valve should add some weight to those achievements, gold, silver, bronze, platinum or atleast something similar.

nobody is forcing me to get them so why sholud one care ?

Most of the time they're only worth +1 for someone's profile, as well as a bit of an e-peen extender, but the more challenging ones are rather entertaining. I see those as more of a goal for myself to work towards. Like the ___Boy achievements in Super Meat Boy.
It can also be used as a milestone marker. For example, it might tell you when you first completed a game, or when you did really damn good in a multiplayer match.

Of course, like with everything else, YMMV.

I don't think Valve is mostly to "blame" here, achievements could be a nice cosmetic incentive if only developers decided to put more effort into them.
As a good example, I'll go with Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons. It is an easy game to achieve 100% completion but did you know that if you go straight for the story, you can miss absolutely every achievement and yet complete the game? Most of the achievements in Brothers require you to interact with the scenery or wildlife in some way, making you learn more about your surroundings and game lore in a very unique way. While in some other releases, you get an achievement for merely starting the game, clicking on credits screen or completing the tutorial.
I also noticed quite a few developers are taking advantage of people's obsession with such things by adding ridiculously easy achievements in games (and only 2-3 of them) knowing that some people will buy the game just because of that, regardless of quality.

I guess a lot of people need some concrete proof that their time with the game had an impact outside their mental ecosystem.

Eh? Sometimes there are achievements for cash on Playfire or other similar sites. Earn achieves in games you own and it gives you change. Eventually you would have enough to buy something you want.
Sometimes achieves are just fun to get. I do hate the ones that require non-stop grinding, but other ones can help you find something you might otherwise miss in the game. The name/description might give you a clue to look for something that you would have completely overlooked without it.

If the SAM didn't exist the achievements would have more value and possible better rewards, it's a shame :(

Still, I'm pretty proud of get many of my achievements that bring back good memories, and all them are legit (without SAM of course, I will never use it).

I consider them just yet another way for the developer to interact with the player.
That said, I'd be nice if steam gave us a badge for achievement hoarding like they give us one for compulsive buying I love my 1k badge :P.

Yes, I don't care about achievements.

It's for the epeen and subsequent personal satisfaction. :V

YES

They are my life..... oh....

no they aren't pointless in my opinion. And SAM doesn't decrease their value that much since 99% of the SAM users can be easily recognised. E.g. 100% while having low amount of game hours, all or many achivements unlocked exactly at the same time, impossible achievement unlock order etc.

Yes, if you have a lot of games. If you have just a few games, it might be fun to replay them and try to get all achievements. But at this point, I'm only trying to complete games without a single care for achievements.

I generally like them. They form a sort of extra "achievement" in games. Objectives to perform, which can be quite fun. But they can also be damaging to games, if they are frustrating and annoying, as too difficult to get or require insane amounts of grinding.

I've not really been a fan of achievements, but then I discovered those achievement websites like astats, Metagamerscore and achievementhunters (which closed)...now I prefer playing games with achievements over those without.

I think they could improve the system though, even though SAM is kind of a problem.