"...what is it about the estimation of your peers on hive that brings you such value? Does this humble quest to increase social reputation via authentic means apply to your 'irl' community as well, or does it work differently face-to-face?"
I am availed their criticism that corrects me when I am wrong, which absolutely informs all my interactions. Little is more valuable to me, but the affection of my peers in a healthy society that enables society to be robust and skookum enough to withstand even cataclysmic events.
"...what happens when you attempt to transact with people who are NOT capable of goodwill? IS there any such person?"
The majority of people have been indoctrinated into a sort of worship of financialization, and sublimate all other considerations to the acquisition of money, which renders them incompetent of goodwill, and execrable acquaintances IME. When I mistakenly transact with them I am robbed, and learn not to make that mistake again. It is not lightly said that the love of money is the root of all evil, IMHO.
Edit: note it isn't money that is evil, or the root of evil. Money is a service that facilitates commerce, but has been twisted into a weapon by malevolent psychopaths that have fully given themselves over to financialization as their primary, if not their sole purpose in life.