Live. Play. Design.

There's a lot of hubub around the office about Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I find it very interesting that a bunch of nerds, who in no way would take time to go see a musical, end up gushing over and making references to the show.

So I thought about it some more and realized the secret - the theme! Just as games such as Diner Dash and Peggle managed to capture females who would have otherwise not even gone close to a video game, Joss Whedon has managed to create a musical out of something that geeks could relate to - the world of super heroes and super villains.

There's also the dimension of being easily accessible: Peggle and Diner Dash had machanics and goals that were simple and familiar. In the same way, Dr. Horrible was written with a more pop sound than, say, a Sondheim musical (though Joss Whedon admits to having been inspired by Sondheim). What's important is that the media retains the qualities that sets it apart from others (musicals tell a story primarily through song, video games through interactivity).