[BenjiWiebe]

Badges don't do anything at all on SO. Only points actually do anything. You get more privileges/capabilities with more points.

[Izkata]

Gold badge for a tag lets you close questions with that tag unilaterally instead of needing 3 users to vote on it. It's assumed you know enough about the topic you can do that, and it can still be overridden by 3 votes to reopen from other users.

[greazy]

That makes the situation even more confusing because a lot of emphasis is put on badges and less on points.

[fomine3]

People still want anything like badge that doesn't do anything, see game lootbox