‘Spore was made for casual gamers’

Isn't Spore a MMO? That's not very casual, is it?

Is that why after all these years of development the game was a bitter dissapointment?
Yes the creature/village designer is very "casual", but the gameplay is borrowed from C&C, Civ and lets face it the space part is a complete rip off of Masters Of Orion, one of the least casual games you could possible get.
And trust me, some of the missions at the Galactic stage tested even my hardcore gaming skills.

i think 'hardcore gamers' means people who buy a lot of video games. and will wright decided to try to sell his game to people who do not buy a lot of video games. not a very intelligent chap.

The guy who's previous game aimed at the casual market sold more copies than any other game in history, you think hes not a very intelligent chap? Hmmm hardcore gamers are a vocal minority of the casual gaming market but hes smart not to listen to them, his games sell and making money is the goal of any corporation.

It could have still worked with the "casual" cutdown mechanics of each stage, but the fact that there was no point in continuing play through a stage once you'd unlocked the next one made it very frustrating to me.

As a comparison, The Sims doesn't let you slave over every detail of your character's house, only on completion to say "You now have to move house to continue the game", and if you choose not to the game will not advance in any way.