Oh, how interesting! And I must admit I'm a big fan of Civ, so there's more coolness in this story for me.
I wondered whether Spike was familiar with Civ after he told Angel in TGIQ: "As fas as projects go, you are the Sistine Chapel". :) But when would he play it - he didn't have a computer at home. Nah, he probably played on someone's PC at W&H, and then showed it to Illiria. He became fond of video games and gameboys - so why not of computer games too? :)