(And this is coming from someone who has one of the rarest items in the game -- given out only to very specific contest winners -- the Gaelicap).
Do I want everyone to have a Gaelicap? I wouldn't mind one bit.
All it took from me was drawing an idea that got accepted by the dev team. It was very much a last-minute drawing and I put CONSIDERABLY more time into another idea which didn't win.
I don't need a digital item made of pixels to make me feel like a special snowflake in or out of the game. It's just a video game. No need to compare it to the Olympics/University degrees or anything else that actually requires a modicum of physical ability or mental prowess.
