(Yes, this is another post about Puyo)
Games are inherently complex. What separates a competitor from your average joe is the skill and talent developed to master these challenges. When it comes to bringing these games to an audience, however, the complexities that make a game rich and rewarding beyond a simple sport also serves to isolate the players from the public. If the world doesn't know what a champion has done, is it worth the effort? Some would say no.
Generally, these barriers fall into one of three camps. The first is the learning gap: games with complex rules and complex strategies can seem impenetrable for the lay person, especially as the game progresses. The second is the omniscience gap: in games with hidden information, players knowing things viewers don't creates frustration. The third is the focus gap: many games have extremely complex game states, and figuring out what to pay attention to is mentally taxing on spectators.
One of the jobs of production is figuring out ways to bridge the gap between player and spectator. Experienced commentary can explain difficult concepts for laypersons or curate the parts of the game that matter. But today I'd like to focus on how graphics can accomplish this goal, and in some cases make a game itself palatable to a general audience.
In poker, the hole cam actually inverts the omniscience gap, where revealing hidden information and seeing live odds not afforded to players creates tension over the course of a hand. In football, the first down marker presents a clear visual indicator of one of the most important micro goals in the game. Multiview in Apex Legends enables spectators to manage the daunting task of keeping track of a 20 team game. Meanwhile, the stats display in Classic Tetris gives the audience a sense of who is ahead or behind in a lengthy endurance contest.
Make no mistake: these features are huge technical challenges, and engineers can build an entire career solely off of maintaining and improving the technologies. Building spectator tools carries risks beyond time and money as well: in hockey for example, the "glowing puck" visual aid was roundly mocked by pundits.