What happens in a conflict when the two opponents both want to activate the same Trait?  Does the owner of the Trait get first option?  Is it the person with the highest Virtue?

And taking this question back a step, are there any protocols for 'who declares what Traits they're activating first'?

Is it that you get first option on your own Traits, and then on your opponent's?
Do you get first option to apply the Trait's value to your own target face, and then to your opponent's?

This came up in our recent game.  There was a juicy Trait on the table ('Vile - 2') that was used in every single conflict starring my gang leader.  In one particular showdown, I wanted to claim it but I let another player choose it first because she'd said it first.

Heh.  As I mentioned here, I never wrote timing rules because the issue never came up in play.  Well, at least as far as I can remember.  Generally, it was clear from the context if a Trait was more appropriately activated in a character's favor or opposed to him.

But, that's not always the case, is it?

So, based on that, I'd say that the character's player should get dibs on his own Trait if he wants it.

Now, to the timing issue.  If you'd had a way of nailing down who has dibs on a Trait, would you have had a timing issue?

It does resolve the timing issue, partially. But ...

(And bear in mind, we're entering the realm of the hypothetical problem here ...)

... using MJ's example from the thread you linked to, let's say we have A and B teaming up in a conflict against C. We break that down into pairs of conflicts, resolving it as 'A versus C' and 'B versus C' in separate conflicts.  From what you've said, the procedure is:

Step one: Do you want to activate one of your own traits? (Let's say no-one does)

Step two: Do you want to activate your opponent's trait?

Well, let's say A and B both want to activate C's "Vile - 2" trait. That seems like a timing issue to me.

Oh no, that's easy.  A and B can both tap that Trait, because they are in separate conflicts that are resolved separately.

Defining goals becomes significant at this point, to be sure, for narrating the outcome, because you'll have to work through "A wins against C, but C wins against B".  This isn't the end of the world, you understand; it just requires a little bit of thought.

Steve,

Trait rules are pretty much self-balancing. If you pick the Trait first, the opponent has a choice to negate the effects with another Trait, or apply another Trait to his or her own target face. If you wait with activating the Trait, it works the other way around. That way, timing is not an issue, and you can pretty much go with "first come, first served" approach. At least, it worked well enough in our game.

Also, since both opponents can use each other's Traits freely, having more Traits, or better ones, doesn't give you any real advantage (at most, there might be some advantage for having more I/C to pay for additional activations, but that's pretty situational).