Merit / trust / Medals is fine if people think they have a chance to get it. Then they will fight for it.
If they find out it is impossible to get it can backfire and give opposite effect.
Trust - if you get 1 bad trust from Default trust member you loose interest. In particular if unfair.
Merit - standard users have standard problems etc. No one give them merit. They loose interest.
Medals - we give them to our soldiers so they feel proud. When I see it I always think. How many people did he kill to get them.
Do I think merit is good. Yes / No. I don't care