Tall or small?

My druid in World of Warcraft, who is a tauren, is an engineer. And it turns out that the helicopter mount he can build doesn't scale with character size, thus he looks extremely funny, a big cow in a tiny cockpit. Other items in the game scale, so if you see a gnome and a tauren wielding the same weapon, the weapon will be in the appropriate size for the character. For reasons of game balance the run speed and jump height of every character in the game is exactly the same, but as we instinctively judge speed and height in comparison to our height, we often get the impression that smaller characters run faster and jump higher.

Besides the optical differences, there are a few real minor advantages to playing a small character. In PvP small characters are less visible, and less likely to be targeted by somebody using the mouse to target. Although of course tab targeting and the use of name plates can remove that advantage. Character size also makes a difference with doorways and such, a gnome can get through doors even when mounted, while a tauren needs to dismount his kodo before entering.

But as these advantages are tiny, players are free to choose their race and thus height by personal preference. I have a general preference for small races, and am looking forward to playing a goblin, as small races were a bit lacking on the Horde side. So what about you? Do you prefer playing a tall character or does your heart beat for the vertically challenged?