Fightcade flags Catalan players separately from Spain

Fightcade, a platform for playing retro fighting games online, shows users connecting from Catalonia a Catalan flag labelled "Catalonia" instead of the Spanish one. The choice affects only the flag displayed next to the name in the game rooms, not the players' nationality.

The **Fightcade** platform allows users to play retro games, mainly fighting titles, online against rivals from all over the world. Each room displays a list of available players who can be challenged, and next to each name is the flag of the country they are connecting from, along with the connection quality level.

## A different flag for players from Catalonia

Anyone connecting from Catalonia does not see the flag of Spain. They see the Catalan flag, the senyera, and hovering over it shows the label **"Catalonia"**. This is the same treatment given to any other territory with its own flag in the list: the platform assigns the icon based on the user's connection location.

The rest of the Spanish players appear with the flag of Spain. The difference changes nothing about the game itself: the flag is an informational element in the room, alongside the connection quality indicator.

## What Fightcade is and how it assigns flags

**Fightcade** is a free program that emulates arcade machines and connects players over the internet. Its catalogue focuses on fighting titles from the nineties, such as **Street Fighter**, and it works through rooms separated by game.

The flag shown for each user is inferred from their connection, not from a manual choice. That is why the system can distinguish Catalonia from the rest of Spain even though no Catalan state exists: IP geolocation can pinpoint the autonomous community.

## A technical detail with a political reading

A private foreign platform using the senyera as an icon does not imply any recognition of independence. It is a configuration decision made outside Spain, with no legal effect. The flag does not alter the players' nationality or how the platform works.

It is worth separating the anger from the actual consequence: an icon in a list of names changes nobody's administrative status. Whether the platform corrects or keeps this criterion is up to its operators, not to Spanish law.