For EV's, IV's, and other V's, this just made it so we could "personalize" our Pokemons. I Mean, all Infernapes as Special attackers? or Physical? that gets boring, so EV's/IV's are to make them "better".
As for Items, it's to make the game more interesting, and make more strategies. Sure, some items are worthless, but moves like trick can mess up an opponent if you give them a bad item, right?
And who said I was a youngster? >:)