[2022] How I deal with toxic players

Had a very, very toxic jungler yesterday in one of my draft matches. The guy was pretty much completely unhinged from the start, typing a lot of infuriating stuff, and even going as far as to purposely smite cannons (I was a victim of one). It was an awful experience but I was happy to see my team not showing any reaction to our jungler since I'm guessing they've already muted all the first chance they got. As for me however, I noticed something was up, and decided to keep the toxic guy unmuted.

Fast forward to our loss and pretty much everybody instantly ditched the post-match lobby. I went on to friend my jungler in hopes of chatting with him to see if he was ok, and it worked out somewhat smoothly than I thought it would. I got accepted, but it took some time for him to settle down and actually have a talk with me rather than hurling out insults straight out of the gate.

Anyways, as he settled down, I went on to ask him if he's alright and all, and he went on to inform me that his life's taking a turn for the worst. You see, it turns out that his parents settled with a divorce out of nowhere a month ago, and he has to deal with it all at a young age of 13 whilst deeply loving both of them. He told me that his parents usually fought quite a lot throughout his childhood, and that he found LoL when he was 8 yrs old and used the game as his only escape whenever his parents were fighting.

His outburst ingame was the result of him penting up all of his anger, confusion, and sadness after having a fight with his parents, and that he was deeply sorry for what he's done to my teammates and I. He told me how much he deeply loves the game and his lvl 700 acc he’s been growing up with and explained how he’s on his final straw with punishments onto his acc, and that he's been all pent up in the past month or so, taking it all out on LoL.

I was crushed. I went on to talk with him for over 3 hrs after that to keep him company, it was a very enjoyable experience I'll truly never forget. I asked if he had any other friends that he's had the chance to talk to about his current situation, and it turns out that he has a bunch he's made through League over the course of years he's played on his acc, but he couldn't find the will to tell any of them what was up. He said he doesn't have any IRL friends, but the ones he has in his friends list on the LoL client is enough for him to feel generally happy and welcomed. He couldn't chat with them anywhere else but on his account because his parents don't trust third party sites like Discord, but he didn't mind that one bit. Before he took his leave, he asked if I wanted to be one of his friends as well, to which I happily agreed as I accepted his friend request.

All in all, the whole experience was just amazing. Who knew just having a talk with one of your toxic teammates would be this pleasantly unforgettable? To be honest, I actually ended up shedding a few tears after it all ended. Anyways, I went on to file a report on the kid and got his account permanently suspended, because to answer my title, I deal with toxic players by simply reporting them. After reading my story, I hope I've encouraged you to take full advantage of the report system as well.