Scale to man

I have a problem relating the scale of the world of SE2 to familiar cues that give the idea of distance and size. The engineer in a space suit appears to be quite tall, there are no variations for an engineers height. The scale that is offered is in units of either 25cm, 50cm and 2.5m. If I place both of my hands, palms down, fingers together next to each other they will fit inside of a 25cm span. Yes, there is variation in hand size, with some bigger, some smaller and with space gloves on is much wider, but not by that much. If I could hold a 25cm block in two hands I would be able to see scale, I would have a relationship between the body of the engineer character and an item of know size. Not everyone has a 25cm cube on there desks and as such it is not a familiar reference. A more common frame of reference would be a drinking mug, but how do you use such a thing with a space suit on ? Another would be a keyboard, common in SE1, with no thought to the fat finger problem.

Why does this matter, I have been trying to build interior living and working spaces in SE2 and have found that scale looses a familiar reference and that 25cm has the appearance of something much smaller with the current visual cues that are available.

Possible remedies on how to address this scale relationship.

Provide recognisable familiar object for scale reference.

Change the 1st person view height.

Make the engineer smaller.

A suited engineer stands at nearly 7feet tall.

My assumption is that either short engineers use stilts inside of the space suit or that short engineers are not allowed into space.

According to brief search.

At the taller end this would equate to the suited engineer we see in SE, but what we do not see IRL is an astronaut making a hot drink whilst still suited for EVA.

When operating outside the engineer is perfect, there are no scale issues. The environment fits the player. When inside with an industrial context the engineer still fits the environment, no problem. The scale issue that I have is noticeable with habitation interiors. Living spaces feel small, when the stated scale would make them palatial.

Question: Would a no suit option, when inside a habitation space change the perception of scale.

Question: Would character height variation add value to the game.

Question: Would being able to hold a 25cm block in both hands have any other value.

Question: Is scale reference to character important to anyone, or is this just a me thing.

Vitruvian man drawn by Leonado DaVinci .