By Mikal E. Belicove|For Entrepreneur.com|May 22, 2012

Whether or not you realize it, “gamification” has been a part of your life since childhood. You might recall, for instance, receiving rewards or prizes from your childhood dentist after each visit. For me, prizes were based on challenge-response behaviors. If I remained cavity-free (the challenge), I got to choose a stuffed animal to take home (the reward).

Gamification, when used online, brings that same element of challenge to an interactive task like downloading a case study or viewing a particular video, and some marketers have come to depend on these rewards to encourage engagement from customers and prospects alike.

If your business can incorporate rewards such as collecting points or badges, leaderboard rankings, receiving discounts and answering quizzes for free gifts and other incentives, you may be able increase engagement and drive action on your site, thus improving brand recognition and subsequently, your bottom line.

A question posed by a recent Pew Internet & American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center study asks: What is the future for gamification? Will game mechanics and rewards programs that boost engagement continue to be a factor in consumer’s digital existence through 2020?

The survey’s participants included 1,021 “highly engaged” technology stakeholders and critics. In all, 53 percent believe gamification will continue to be widespread — with some limits. These respondents said gamification would be…

Continue Reading: Will It Always Be Fun and Gamification?