I got to thinking the other day about a very strange human phenomenon: rewarding someone with something of no (or negligibly small) value. Let me give a few examples.
There's a recent trend in video gaming of rewarding someone with "Achievements." For example, if you collect all ten stars on a particular level of a game, the game will reward you with the "Superstar Achievement." Or if you finish a level in less than one minute, you'll get the "Speed Demon Achievement." Keep in mind that these achievements don't give you any sort of advantage in playing the game, they're an end unto themselves. Other players can view what achievements you've attained, so they're worth some bragging rights, but that's it. It doesn't cost anything for the developers of the game to give them to the player - the value of the Achievement lies simply in having and being able to say you have it.
Another example: When a sports team wins a game, they're given a trophy. I suppose trophies have some minimal "real" value in that they could be melted down and sold as raw material, but I suspect that rarely happens. The reward itself is the only reward: it has no monetary or economic value.
One last example: When a child does well on a test or school project, the teacher will give them a sticker as a reward. Stickers cost a negligibly small amount, so the worth of that reward is entirely perceived.
So what is it about humans that will make us satisfied to be rewarded with something that has no real value? If we were truly pragmatic, wouldn't we be satisfied only with money, or food, or at least something we could use?
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I think it's less about the reward and more about the recognition of the achievement. Example the child with the sticker, the teacher recognizes the child for the achievement and gives the sticker, then Mom picks up the child and child again gets the praise for getting the sticker for the achievement, then if they go somewhere a stranger will ask about the sticker, and when Dad gets home again asked and congratulated on the sticker. The sticker is not the reward the attention of others and the consequent recognition is the real reward. Oh and the trophy (and rings) are bragging rights and reason to again share about your achievement. The basic want/need of humans to be loved and recognized is what this is.
The trophy or sticker or whatever has great practical value. It says, "We value you, so we won't kick you out of the tribe or feed you to the saber-tooth tigers or forget to share our food with you . . . at least for now."
Value is in the eye of the holder, to mangle a phrase. Money, at least the cash variety, has no tangible value on its own. Lousy for writing notes on, too oddly shaped for origami, etc. We only associate value to it as a basis of a trade economy (trading my time for money to buy something that resulted from someone else investing their time, so they can get money...) since it is only legally obtainable from the federal government as a representation for gold,which itself has no practical value. (We only associate value based on its relative scarcity, and because people thousands of years ago thought it looked pretty strung into a necklace. At least a beaver pelt will keep your head warm in the winter.)
To some, the value of a sticker or a "100%" in a game is purely recognition for an investment of time and effort to have accomplished something. Humans simply are wired to need to feel a sense of accomplishment ("...have dominion over the earth...") and to some degree, to have recognition of that accomplishment ("...saw that it was good."). The sticker is a rather simple statement of recognition from an authority on the subject in question. Rather like a college diploma, except earning the sticker doesn't set you back in student loan debt.
There's even a word for these things, "chachkas" !
In my past life as a sales drone, we used to carry them around where ever we went. The purpose was to tell a prospective customer, "You're special" when in fact they were only special because they were a prospective customer. Golf balls were a favorite.
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