Method and apparatus for promoting desired on-line activities using on-line games

A method, comprising the following computer-implemented steps:

• providing a server that is separate from a website belonging to a third party different from a party that controls the server, the third party website being made publicly accessible via the Internet by the third party;
• communicating, at the server via the Internet, with a client application residing on a host for monitoring a user's online activities, and wherein the host is configured to allow the user to interact with the third party website;
• receiving from the client application via the communication between the server and client, information regarding the user's interaction with the third party website;
• and
• in response to the user's interaction with the third party website, automatically initiating, by the server, a game with game content that is separate from content provided by the third party website, wherein the initiation of the game is based on the received user interaction with other users regarding the separate content provided by the third party website before the game is initiated, and providing the game content to the client application for rendering on the host in addition to the user receiving separate content from the third party website,
• wherein the host further includes a web browser application, and wherein in a first game application the method further comprises:
• causing the game content to be embedded together with the separate content from the third party website displayed by the web browser application, and
• wherein in a second game application, the method further comprises:
• configuring the client application to communicate with the server to display the game content in a full screen provided by the web browser application.