Gold farmers are a bad thing for sure, but what really nails the coffin shut on my love for MMO's is the actual players. Anyone that is worth talking to online has already long since figured out that it's better to just turn on mute and ignore everyone else. I don't mean to rant really, but gold farmers are small potatoes compared to the majority of players that "grief" in my opinion.
I was excited when I first found out about the upgrades for the villa, but that slowly went away as I progressed. There's really nothing to it once you get the money flow going. I just wish there would have been a point other than endless money to spend on "nothing" in the later part of the game.
Toy Commander was definitely one of the all-time best Dreamcast games in my opinion. I agree whole-heartedly with everything you had to say on the subject.
My grandma bought me Zool for my birthday. When I was 15. Like 7 years after the game came out. It was mildly fun to dig out my Genesis and laugh at how horribly bad it was.