Flags

Every nation flies a flag, which can be selected in the Settings view of the standard Nation Page. A drop-down list provides access to virtually all current national flags to choose from as the signature standard of your nation. Many nations use the Default flag which is in RL, the Aboriginal Flag. Max Barry, the creator of NationStates, is an Aussie, which may explain this choice.

There are known exceptions to the list of standard flags, including:

Azerbaijan, Djibouti, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Faroe Islands, Fiji, Georgia, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Libya, Maldives, Nepal, Northern Marianas, Oman, Samoa, Serbia & Montenegro, Tajikistan, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vatican City, and Yemen.

Obviously, there are many more nations than default flags. That nice fellow Max Barry resolved that by giving nations the chance to upload a flag of their very own.

See gameplay for other graphics-related aspects of NationStates.

Technical Aspects

• The pre-Jolt size limit was 107x71 pixels in size, and no larger than 6KB.
• The pixel limit was never enforced by the server and not enforced by mods so long as it did not distort even the smallest screen size resolution.
• The size has since increased to 10KB.
• Flag makers such as 1 Infinite Loop, Qaaolchoura, Myrth and Itinerate Tree Dweller routinely make or have made (at least two of these are not currently active) flags of up to to 300x200

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• The Swastika ruling has been amplified and clarified. See [violet]'s Acceptable Flag Policy topic for all the rules.
• Also forbidden: Nudity, Moderator Impersonators, and other few others. Inappropriate flags are a deletable offense.
• (The Original NationStates Flag FAQ is the source for most of this information.)

Additional Information

• The East Pacific hosts the NationStates Flag Service on its offsite forum.
• Flags of the World is a good site for pictures and information about past and present flags of the real world.
• The North American Vexillogical Association has an online pamphlet describing some of the principles of flag design while showing real world examples of good and bad designs.
• The International Democratic Union hosts the Custom Flag Service. Sober Thought will create flag options for democratic nations, subject to NAVA guidelines, NS technical specifications and good taste. Other contributors have their own values, often several variants are presented and the requestor can pick from them.
• The Ausserland Flag Museum will make flags for nations and regions upon request. NS flag rules are strictly applied.