EVE New Citizens Q&A

Hello everyone,

I want to start my own Corporation soon. I have been doing a lot of reading about it, and one point that seems to be emphasized a lot is checking character API keys to maintain Corporation security.

So, understandably, I looked up information on checking API keys. I found some cool tools (EVEMon, EVEHQ), but sadly they don't give "the full picture" - just skills and standings, and a ship-fitting tool.

What I'm trying to figure out is how Corporations take API keys and check them? All the information I found was very out of date and not helpful.

I appreciate any help on this, thanks.

(And yes, this is an alt.)

To be honest, I'm not sure how useful an API check actually is for catching spies. Anyone that really wants to place a spy into a corp, assuming they know what they're doing, will be able to make a 'clean' looking character to use.

I get a much better feel for people by talking to them. I then use the API check to verify what they tell me and to see their skills in depth (for industry and invention).

I'll step in, in order to shed some light into this situation.

When someone gives you an API key you can check the 'Type' of the key by calling the APIKeyInfo API call with that key credentials.

https://api.eveonline.com/account/APIKeyInfo.xml.aspx?keyID=THEKEYIDHERE&vCode=THEVERIFICATIONCODEHERE

If the key type = 'Account' then there are no other characters than the one claimed to be.
if the key type = 'Character' then the key is restricted to that character, meaning that the account may have more than the character shown.

So always ask for an 'Account' type API key.

Of course someone can always be a spy even if he has only one character on an account. Successful spying works by having multi-accounts.

On behalf of
The EVEMon Dev Team

1. you get someone's API Key
2. you go to the site Desmont listed.

let's say their UID is 1234, and the VC is ABCD

you would then check the account type by going to the site " https://api.eveonline.com/account/APIKeyInfo.xml.aspx?keyID=1234&vCode=ABCD" and it would come back with the info (note, if the forums make this a link, it will die horribly).

However, with you being ~2 months old, and having never left the rookie corp, I would strongly suggest that you DO NOT start your own corp just yet. There are downsides to being in a player-run corporation.

edit --

after that, then you can use tools like EVEMon and EVEHQ to determine if what the applicant is telling you is true or not (well, to some degree) -- i.e. if they tell you they can fly an orca or use T2 large artillery, you can confirm that.

if they're telling you they're brand new, and don't have any other accounts ... you have to take them at their word.

Yeah I'm testing that with my own API keys and it works so long as that code is all I'm doing.

If I try anything else, such as journals, etc, it fails.

I'm definitely missing something.

When I put in this code:

https://api.eveonline.com/char/WalletTransactions.xml.aspx?keyID=KEYID&vCode=VCODE

it returns the following in a coded format:

error code="203" - Authentication failure.

Now I know the CAK I'm using has everything checked. Is there another code I'm supposed to add for CAKs?

-EDIT- Nevermind. I wasn't copy pasting the last character of the VCODE. It works now.

Anyway to get it to display in a non-coded format?

And that's probably well beyond the scope of a quick "just do this" forum thread, huh?

Your over thinking it!

You don't have to check all api's.
Some corps do, some don't.


No api's checks equal a bad idea!
If you want you can check only those that you give permissions to.
As stated before spies get in no matter what.


What you are looking for when you get an api:

Is the toon training?
Does the sp seem high enough for thier age? (( 3 year old toon with 2mil sp might be an alt that is temp training ))
Do the skills match what they told you about in the interviews/chats with them? (( Yes you need to interview ))
Do they have the skill set that matches your corps needs?


Good luck!