This sounds like it might be very difficult to do, but I'm not a programmer so ...
A la Xbox and Steam achievements and PS3 trophies, is there any way at all that select games on GOG could be worked to include achievements that could then show up on your GOG profile?
To me it sounds a little unrealistic, but I wouldn't really know how it's done regardless, so I'm not sure if it's maybe a possibility. All I know is that if there was an achievements system on GOG even just for certain games, I have a feeling it would bring me back to this site much more often. Not that any of us good-old-gamers need achievements to get into a game, but a system like that can sure get addicting, and can really awaken the completionists in us.
Feel free to shoot me down if this is completely unreasonable and impossible. It would just be really, really cool, and a great way to get more people to flock to the website daily.

Achievement Unlocked!
Interstate Investment - Play a session of Interstate '76 without the game crashing!

achievements ?
thanks,but i think we don't need those

It's impossible without access to the source code of the games.

It's just another excuse to pump an extra unnecessary 10 hours into a game. :-)
Was afraid of that. Oh well

I've never understood the appeal of the e-peni waving that are achievements. I have over five thousand internets from Live but it doesn't actually mean anything.

Nope, not possible... well, its possible, but extremely unlikely. In order to do that, not only would GOG have to modify the games, they would also have to put in some kind of "call home" feature to publish your achievements. Either that or they would have to add a client like Steam. That's a bit too much like DRM for most people's tastes and GOG will never stray into that mess.

Personally it's just a way for me to track stuff myself. I have a good time trying to earn those last achievements in some games, not really worried about anyone else knowing about it.

GOG has access to the source code of at least some of the games. That's one of the ways they fix compatibility and remove DRM.

Regarding a "call home" feature and/or a client, you're right, definitely not worth.

I suppose I see that. I just get annoyed by the more extreme trophy collectors who seem to buy games for the extra 1000 internets rather than the game itself.

It means something if you WANT IT TO.
I've got a bunch of achievements on Steam but basically I don't actively play to get them, but if I see that I'm close to getting one, what the hell.

People keep telling that but I've yet to see any proof. So far the compatibility fixes provided by GOG have been accomplished in the following ways:
- Editing DOSbox config file: anybody can do this but the GOG staff test their configuration against many different tests enviroments (every DOS game).
- Making a no-CD crack: crackers do it by reverse engineering the executables and it's highly probable that GOG simply reused those cracks (Arcanum and others).
- Programming some kind of wrapper for the game: the wrapper calls the exe so there is no need for the source code (AFAIK only Beyond Good and Evil does this and I read in the forum that some people avoid the wrapper because it causes problems for them).
- Creating a custom renderer: One of the Duke Nukem games required this to not crash but lots of people have created custom renderers for games like Deus Ex and other Unreal Engine games.
The only case in which I remember that the source code was used is Arx Fatalis but the original developers were the ones that created the patch and gave it to GOG.
Even if GOG did have access to the source code of some of the games it wouldn't be easy to modify them because first you need to understand how everything works and then make sure you don't introduce more bugs while fixing the game. I think that patching a game which you didn't develop yourself would cost too much to be worthwhile for a company like GOG.

I'm waiting for their " you bought an overpriced game " and "you paid with euros " achievements

or the "you lost your account for no readily apparent reason without explanation or apology"