Instead of survival, it's more like a measurement to make sure you can keep growing in the ranks. I think your account will stay intact even if you don't get any merit. You can keep posting and hanging out with other fellows here, and don't mind about merits if you just want to merely discuss here. However, if you have other importance, for example, as a bounty hunter who wants to improve their earnings through signature campaigns, then merit is very important. There are some criteria for increasing your ranks, and one of them is to fulfill certain amounts of merit for certain ranks.