Playing under national flag

[embattled llama]

I often find that at the beginning of a game I'll be attacked and robbed by both players, even when I have terrible numbers and resources. Sometimes this carries on through the game, even when I'm behind, so today I challenged the others in a chat about why they were both robbing me. You're British, was the reply. Later they said we dominate the world with our political aggression and the Catan board in the same way.
I pointed out our shambolic leadership and third world status. But also, do brits really dominate at Catan?
Personally I open with friendly robber, will trade as and when, don't deliberately block other's progress and enjoy a game as long as everyone's in with a chance of winning. If someone beats me well I'll end the game with a smile on my face... Which is just as well as happens often!
Anyway my question... Why do we play under our national flags? I don't want to as I now know for sure we brits get hammered.

[Jellby]

You can set your country to anything you like (well, not Gondor or Lilliput), or to "unknown". People take choices for all kinds of stupid reasons, and the flag displayed under a user name is one of them. Next time you may find yourself targeted because they hate llamas, or because you're playing yellow.

[embattled llama]

Ha true. Yes changed my flag.

[clasone]

I have noticed the same thing that I am attacked because of my U.S. flag. It's one of those things that can't be controlled. Their is the option to select only English speaking, that could help. I don't like the idea of changing ones flag or country to avoid this behavior. I don't know why the site can't rely on IP addresses and then put an option for selection which countries you want to play with.