Trigger Happy
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classic television angle, has an averagely good view of
all the lines and can appreciate cross-court angles. By
contrast, the side-on spectator has a limited experience
of these aspects, but he is much better placed to
appreciate the varying arcs of the balls through the air,
the niceties of topspin and slice, and the sheer length
and speed of the shots.
Given that viewing angles have such an effect on
the experience of spectatorship, how much more
important must they be when you are actively involved
in the game? Imagine if you were asked by an eccentric
scientist to play a game of snooker wearing a VDU
headset wired so that your point of view was situated
on the ceiling, looking straight down onto the table. It
would be a completely different experience, because
you wouldn’t be able to sight down the line of the balls
while cueing. In fact, before the advent of efficient 3D
realization, several videogame versions of snooker and
pool were produced that replicated exactly this thought
experiment, with a top-down view.
Such games were pointless, but what is more
interesting is that owing to this viewpoint differential
they didn’t merely fail to replicate accurately the
experience of snooker or pool, they actually became
entirely different sorts of game. Martin Amis expertly
