In WoW and many other games, it is referred to as "Gold Farming" No one likes a gold farmer, they ruin the economy.
As for needing it to buy repair kits, try hitting something with your hands/paws for a bit. No need to repair those...yet. A lowly commoner isn't going to be able to afford to use swords right off the bat, let alone train in them. It would be more natural that new commers must start out their fighting career using thier bare hands/paws and then at a time later, when they can afford to use weapons, then they would switch over. With the recent changes, I see this as becoming more of a reality IG.