1) The credit system is in place as a way to promote and encourage user interaction on the forums
2) At the minute, We are still deciding on the appropriate awards, aside from bragging rights of being the richest in the Freedom! neighborhood of course... We are planning on adding cosmetic rewards and benefits for Freedom! forums users. Possibly a ranking
system where you will unlock new features at each point.
3) You can brag about the credit system, if you want to celebrate hitting a particular credit milestone, for example in the milestone and achievement section of the forum, or if you have ideas or suggestions for the future use of the credits you can always message one of the forum team (like myself) and I can bring these up with the rest of the team.
4) I wouldn't say the credit system is benefiting me just yet, but then again this is like a beta period to see what its like, and whether or not users are actively trying to get them, and their opinions on them. We obviously want to make everyones stay as enjoyable as possible and try our best to create new and entertaining things on the forums to help out / bring some enjoyment to using the forums