People complain about the Russian squad because it's no fun getting slap-ganked by four-plus people. However, there have been many nasty perma teams. I participated in a couple back in the day, but it makes the game a novelty instead of an experience. True, you can level up hyperfast and synch up things like food and bathroom breaks. It's the perfect scenario if you're concerned with hitting hero as fast as possible. However, playing in a crew means no real RP experience, no playing /b THE CHARACTER b/ instead of working out the permalag metagame. This is usually why the permas only last a little while- the novelty of the team wears off. There will always be min/maxers, metagamer/exploiters, full-fledged roleplayers, and several hybrid archetypes in between. Russian, German, British, Aussie, Amerikaner, Dutch, Brazilian... Vodka, Rum, Whiskey, Scotch, Weed, Ecstasy, Coke... The permas and cheating transcend these boundaries, proving that we are all truly one consciousness that is kind of a chump at the Reformed School for Collective Consciousnesses of Parallel Dimensions. He spills chocolate milk RIGHT into his crotch at lunchtime, but dreams away time on the shitter avoiding class by imagining us- our problems and our pitfalls, the wonders of the cosmos, and most definitely cheating permagroups.

Playing solo makes you an astronomically better player. Period.