This thread is moving fast!
The droid works just fine without a chip. And it will interact with the land. I think mine started to sound nervous in the First Order area, even without the Resistance chip in her. The most fun area is near the "cantina" bathrooms (behind the Milk Stand) - it's themed like the back exit from the Droid Depot so there are lots of droids being worked on. My girl definitely perked up when I walked near there. I saw plenty of droids interacting and expect most of them didn't have personality chips in. (That droid area I mentioned is sort of the hang-out spot where I've seen several droid owners interacting with their new companions.) I haven't had the chance to see if one with a Resistance chip will interact differently near a droid with a First Order chip, but that would be cool! I'll be bringing her back on Saturday, so hopefully will get to see more interactions!
One thing for the BB units, they will turn off automatically after not being used. It's pretty easy to get them back on - you just need to twist open the base and flick the switch to off/on again. I think when they are in the land, they are more actively receiving signals, so won't turn off, but after a few minutes out of signal range, they may turn off and you need to turn them back on to get them to interact again.