All this comes down to is personal opinion. People who were unhappy with Spore said it flopped, people who liked it said it has a chance.

Continuing discussing as you wish, just remember, when this all ends, right or wrong, Cthulhu will eat you all the same .

You're really probably not gonna get a lot of spore-universe info on it. It shoots up in giant geysers. It's colorful...and apparently it can be converted into fuel.

What more do you want to know? The exact process by which it is converted? Chemical formula?
As to where it comes from...probably similar to oil wells or something.

QFT. I was just trying to answer OP's silly quesiton.

All this Dune info is great I guess, but it doesn't answer the question. Ignoring the Dune reference and without explaining how Dune spice works, what is known about Spore's spice?

Since it comes from geysers, I would assume it is a mineral of some sort present below a planet's surface. But non-specifically, it definitely comes from within the planet.

Does "sporillium" = Spore Bucks? (Lol @ your name being spore buck!) If so, then no, it doesn't get processed into Spore Bucks. It has uses in culinary dishes and stuff like that (some races like some spices for food dishes), and so spore bucks are given in trade for spice.

That's all I know from the game, hope it helps!

I think it may be an attempt at trolling, too. Space may be partially unguided (your homeworld gives you goals in the beginning), but it's not really confusing. You're supposed to do whatever you want, as there is no end. Thus, you can't have steps, because steps lead to an end.

1) Make contact with all neighboring empires and greet them respectfully.
2) Run missions for each empire until they are at least a blue face.
4) Obtain the various badges required for max health and energy.
3) Continue doing missions until you have enough money for these upgrades.
4) Do more missions and/or sell spice to get even more money to buy dozens of health and energy packs.
5) Turn off your auto-blaster and make a run for the Center of the Galaxy. Use the pause button to attempt to map a route as you get closer.
6)
7) Profit!

Understood. That really sucks that it got scratched so bad. Sorry to hear, hope it all works out.

First, you really cant compare Sims/Sims 2 with Spore.
Sims was open-ended.. literally, it just kept on going. Spore had STAGES, where you go through.

That's quite a moot point. I was not comparing Sims gameplay to Spore gameplay. I was comparing how you treat the Sims to how you were "meant" to treat Spore. The Sims would quickly get boring if you didn't care about the behavior, relationships, and what-all of the Sims. It is the same thing with Spore. If you don't care about how your race is supposed to behave, interact with other races, or create buildings, it'll get pretty old.

and secondly, use imagination to play a game? seriously? I'd rather read a book then.

Then you must read a ton of books and play no video games. Just about every video game requires some imagination - whether it's accepting that there's a super-advanced alien race taking over our galaxy or accepting a little plumber can do triple jumps, backflips, and fly around because his hat has a couple Hermes wings. It's a matter of how you perceive the game that makes it fun.