How and What Data Was Chosen

Method Section “Before” Version

To find the data I could rhetorically analyze as part of my research idea, I needed to steer my search results to those specific speaking points. I specifically wanted to look at why people were buying this game and why they think its okay to do so given that the creator of the concepts in the game is considered a bad person, within multiple communities.

I chose four different YouTube videos total, ranging from creators with followings in the three hundred thousands to followings in the two thousands, and within those followings a similar range of views on their videos. Overall, the messages within the videos were very similar. I did it this way because I believe it gave a good spread of data, especially when we are able to infer that the number of views, or follows a specific YouTuber has, in some way, equates agreement to the creators’ views and options or at the very least an interest in what they have to say and produce in the way of content. Additionally, all four of the videos chosen were posted between the dates of January 6^th and January 21^st.

By March 21^st, when the original data was collected, all four videos had been publicly posted for at least eight weeks.

The first YouTube video analyzed was by a creator Pirate Canvas. Pirate Canva’s video was titled ‘Why It’s Okay to Purchase Hogwarts Legacy as A Harry Potter Fan’. The creator had two thousand, five hundred ten subscribers and one hundred and forty-six views on his YouTube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nnX7TlxpHM&t=198s

The second video was by Nivoleth, whose subscriber count was three thousand, three hundred ninety and the view count on his YouTube video was one hundred sixty-seven thousand, nine hundred ninety-four. His video was titled ‘You’re a BAD PERSON if you buy Hogwarts Legacy.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Feltdy055Hk&t=2s

The third video was by Jalyn whose subscriber count was three hundred three thousand and the view count on their video was fifty-five thousand, two hundred eighty-five. Their video was titled ‘Are You Transphobic for Playing This Game?’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLEN8NWzbqM&t=1s

Finally, the fourth video was created by Ratatoskr whose subscriber count is one hundred four thousand, and his view count on the video was fifty-eight thousand, nine hundred fifteen, at the time of data collection. His video was titled ‘Why I’m Buying Hogwarts Legacy.’ Ratatoskr has since deleted this video from his YouTube page and it is no longer available to view.

https://tinyurl.com/3r6ny62f

In addition to the four YouTube videos, I also decided to analyze a Reddit thread posted on a subreddit called ‘r/noStupidQuestions’ that asks the question ‘Would I be a bad person for buying Hogwarts Legacy?’ At the point of data acquiring, March 21st, I had already chosen to look at the rhetorical devices people used to defend their argument that buying the game would not make you a bad person. So, to choose this specific thread of arguments I simply searched the question, “Would buying Hogwarts Legacy make me a bad person,” in Reddits’ search bar and I chose the very first thread that I saw.