BioWare Blog: Conveying Story to the Player, Part One
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There are times when actions speak louder than words in life, and this can apply to video games as well. Say for example, the main character has been playing as a Renegade type throughout the game, and is forced to watch the love of his life die? The character may be sad for a while, but eventually he'll move on and continue to go on to save the world. But what if the main character was a Paragon type? He would surely be depressed to see his lover die, and if the emotions that a normal person would feel when losing a loved one were reflected in gameplay such as sadness and self doubt; or confidence and courage, we could give the player more interesting gameplay scenarios like the one described in Metal Gear Solid 4.
Another way to convey story to the player is having the character more actively interact with the environment around them, such as observing and pointing out things that the player wouldn't normally notice, or inquiring about it as they walk around with their party members. A good example of how something like this is used and could be exploited more is in Left 4 Dead, where characters will automatically call out the location of health packs and weapons upon sighting them, or shout out the location of a Boomer that is about to attack the party. These types of experiences are much more engaging and likely to stick in the player's memory than just having a back and forth dialogue interaction where the enemy at hand is explained to you by an NPC.
