We differentiate between primary and secondary sources, where the primary source holds the factual information, and the secondary source(s) documents the primary source.

Thus, a "Reference" in this context consists - technically - of exactly one primary source, and one or more secondary sources.

The problem here is that we might not know the primary source having been used to create the secondary source. In this case, the secondary source - also - becomes a primary source.

The primary source should be on a meta level, first of all to enable judgement of the strength of the source which will enable us later to search for weak sources and replace them. But equally important this is to not make contributing a primary source too hard.

The secondary source should hold detailed (also technical) information about the source, or in other words, it is what can be viewed / read / checked later on to judge the reference.

Primary sources

• Game Release
  • in-game content (everything after the game was started)
  • media content (everything on the medium or during installation)
  • packaging content (everything inside and outside the box)
• Hardware Release
  • case content (everything outside and inside the piece of hardware itself)
  • on-screen content (everything after the hardware was started)
  • media content (everything on a installation medium or during installation)
  • packaging content (everything inside and outside the box)
• Official Information
  • press release - written
  • press release - prerecorded (Audio / Video)
  • press release - live
  • developer interview / visit
  • advertisement / sales sheet
  • hardware fact sheet
• Journalistic Information
  • editorial content - written
  • editorial content - prerecorded (Audio / Video)
  • editorial content - live
• Unofficial Information
  • Wikipedia
  • internal / leaked documents
  • fan research
  • peer-reviewed database

Secondary sources

• screenshot (game)
• screenshot (video)
• URL (external site)
• URL (internal)
• URL (video)
• scan (book, manual, etc.)

Reference types and attributes

• in-game-content: type (intro, outro/credits)
  • screenshot should be provided
• game package content: type (box, manual, other?), description
• press release: company, publication date
• magazine: title, issue, date of issue, page
• book: title, author, publisher, issue, isbn, publication date
• website: title, author, website, URL, publication date, date of last visit, type (official site, fan page, press)
  • + screenshot or copy of website
• internet video: title, author, URL, timecode
• event: event title, event type (e.g. press conference), place, date
• lectures, speeches: name, first name of speaker, title, form and event, place, date
• Television and radio contributions: title, broadcaster/channel, broadcast date
• "grey literature" (unpublished manuscripts, lecture texts, etc.)
• mind protocol

Technical (additional) documentation for given references

• screenshot (game)
• screenshot (website)
• photo (book, manual, etc.)