If you give points for mining, I'll be Emperor of about ten different systems in no time. :p
It's a neat idea, but I really don't think there should be much of an in-game benefit. More of just bragging rights and, like pika suggested, maybe a discount on docking fees (which is nice, but ultimately has no real affect on gameplay).
As such, I don't really see what else is to
be added. Maybe a new icon to click that'll give a rundown of the top contributors to whatever planet / system you're at, as well as of course tracking your own progress... that's about it.
I suppose if you're intent on having something more tangible... a (small) % chance of a special random event triggering whenever you "undock" in a system you hold any significant title in. Not to sound too much like Rexx here, but it would be neat if these events were interactive in some way rather than single result screens like current events, but I realize that would take many times more work. Or, heck, even just a monthly report delivered via in-game mail detailing your contributions to various systems that month and a (very) small credit bonus.
To keep it somewhat more simple it would probably be best to limit the amount to which anyone could participate in it. For example, using pika's suggested "ranks", then a player could reach "Citizen" in as many systems as they wanted, but that had NO in-game benefit. However, they could only reach "Noble" in, say, ten systems and the player would have to choose if they wanted to accept Noble status in a system when they were eligible for it (a screen to accept / opt out in case you're interested in pursuing Noble status in a different system instead). And then a similar system for "Senator," where a player could only ever be a Senator in one or two systems, with a screen to accept / opt out of each system you're eligible for.
...haha, does that actually simplify things?
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
Well, I was looking more at limiting long-term tracking than moment-to-moment decision making, but... whatever.