Things that are shiny are usually good things. Things can be literally shiny (in which case easily distracted people [*cough* agents *cough*] are attracted to them) or metaphorically shiny. Indeed, in the Fireflyverse, 'shiny' is an exclamation either used to mean 'cool' or 'awesome', or used in place of the word 'fine'; i.e. 'Everything's shiny, Captain, not to worry.'
We like shiny things, yes we do, precious. Excessive love of shiny things, however, can very often be bad, as in the cases of Gollum and the One Ring, Fëanor and the Silmarils, and Agent Dafydd and the Ring of Sairalindë. Despite the overabundance of Arda-verse examples, love of shiny things is by no means limited to Tolkien-verse.
Shiny things themselves can also be bad, such as Mary Sues that are shiny and speshul because of all the glitter in their blood. Also, while we like shiny-new newbies and shower them with welcoming gifts upon their arrival, newbies who do not stop being shiny (i.e. so pure and innocent as to be clueless) tend to become irritating.
The Distraction Ball, invented by Makes-Things, takes advantage of the distracting nature of shiny objects.