Does this way of defining JS objects have any purpose?

It’s called the module pattern http://toddmotto.com/mastering-the-module-pattern/

The main reason is for you to create truly private methods and variables. In your case, it’s not meaningful because it’s not hiding any implementation details.

Here’s an example where it makes sense to use the module pattern.

var MyNameSpace = {};

(function(ns){
    // The value variable is hidden from the outside world
    var value = 0;

    // So is this function
    function adder(num) {
       return num + 1;
    }

    ns.getNext = function () {
       return value = adder(value);
    }
})(MyNameSpace);

var id = MyNameSpace.getNext(); // 1
var otherId = MyNameSpace.getNext(); // 2
var otherId = MyNameSpace.getNext(); // 3

Whereas if you just used a straight object, adder and value would become public

var MyNameSpace = {
    value: 0,
    adder: function(num) {
       return num + 1;
    },
    getNext: function() {
       return this.value = this.adder(this.value);
    }
}

And you could break it by doing stuff like

MyNameSpace.getNext(); // 1
MyNameSpace.value = 0;
MyNameSpace.getNext(); // 1 again
delete MyNameSpace.adder;
MyNameSpace.getNext(); // error undefined is not a function

But with the module version

MyNameSpace.getNext(); // 1
 // Is not affecting the internal value, it's creating a new property
MyNameSpace.value = 0;
MyNameSpace.getNext(); // 2, yessss
// Is not deleting anything
delete MyNameSpace.adder;
MyNameSpace.getNext(); // no problemo, outputs 3