Well it's part ego stroking and part just a normal wondering of how one stacks up to others who do the same thing. For me it's also part learning experience. For example, I know Carmack is a much better programmer than I am, but having never seen him program or his process it's hard for me to put it into concrete terms other than he's better. But what does better mean? Faster, more creative, more X? Knowing the details of better is how I can build a plan to improve.

I also liken the fascination with ranking to when I thought I was pretty fast running a 5 second 40yd dash. Of course I had read about or seen sub 5s of other people, but until I finally ran next to a D1 track athlete it was a foreign concept just how much faster he was. Once again, putting something into concrete terms helps people understand where they rank.