How to Engage Young Adults in Reading H. C. Andersen’s Fairy Tale the Little Mermaid, Through a Serious Game

For this study, the authors designed a serious game to increase leisure
reading engagement in H. C. Andersen’s fairy tale, The Little Mermaid. The objectives were to increase leisure reading engagement among young Danish adults and to familiarize the group with original version as a supplement to the Disney version. The novelty within this study is the focus on leisure reading engagement and having participants read a story in its original 1837 language. 25 participants were included in a formative evaluation. The evaluation was based on three questionnaires at various stages of the game play, and six participants were selected for in-depth interviews. The findings reveal increased engagement and interest in the story throughout the game. There was a very high level of interest in the story and some good indicators that the users read the entire story. In conclusion, when designing a serious game to promote increased leisure reading engagement, intrinsic motivation is of high importance. Telling the original story of The Little Mermaid in a serious game is, to a large extent, about transforming the fairy tale into a digital storytelling with meaningful skills and knowledge for the users.