RIOT Games: Custom Q&A Bot for Slack

About

Our work with Riot Games started the way many of our best partnerships do—through reputation. They’d seen our track record with Slack integrations, particularly, and knew we could deliver fast, without cutting corners. When they needed a smarter way to manage internal Q&A sessions in Slack, they turned to Fivewalls.

Limitations & Challenges

Riot Games had a dedicated Slack channel where employees could ask leadership questions during live events or throughout the week. But without structure, these channels sometimes went off the rails.

• Heated tangents buried real questions.
• Some employees stayed silent, worried about public criticism.
• Leadership struggled to track which questions had been answered.

Written guidelines helped, but they weren’t enough. Riot needed a smarter, friendlier system that encouraged participation and kept Q&A sessions productive.

Phase 1: Building the Foundation

We designed and built a custom Q&A Slackbot to bring order and transparency to the process:

• Every question became its own thread, keeping discussions focused.
• Anonymous posting encouraged more employees to contribute.
• Built-in analytics tracked participation, engagement, and sentiment.

Under the hood, we used Node.js, TypeScript, Firebase, and Slack’s Bolt SDK, with Google Sheets integration for reporting. The bot launched quickly and became an essential tool for structured, respectful Q&A sessions.

Phase 2: Leveling Up

With the bot live and successful, Riot asked us to enhance it further. In the second sprint, we added:

• Multi-channel support so multiple teams could use it.
• Per-channel customization for welcome messages, buttons, and links.
• App Home dashboard for global and channel-specific settings.
• Automated spreadsheet creation via Google Drive API.
• Admin controls to restrict access to configuration tools.
• An automatic first “+1” reaction to encourage engagement.

We also fixed bugs, improved performance, and updated documentation for a seamless handover.

Outcome 

The upgraded bot transformed Riot’s Q&A culture:

• Organized, on-topic discussions.
• More voices are heard through anonymous posting.
• Faster question tracking and responses from leadership.
• Data-driven insights into what mattered most to employees.

What began as a single-channel experiment is now a multi-channel productivity tool that keeps Riot’s internal communication healthy, inclusive, and effective.

Core Achievements

• Reduced channel noise and toxicity.
• Increased employee engagement through anonymity.
• Centralized Q&A management for leadership.
• Scalable architecture ready for future needs.