Well, they were trying to get away from the Good/Evil thing in New Vegas. Back when Van Bruen was being built, it was still a good design concept, now, things have evolved a bit beyond that. Time, culture, and media moves on.
Also, it makes for a far more interesting character, indeed! I went in expecting some evil bad ass who was going to make cazador swarms seem friendly and cuddly. What we got was far, far different.
Still a bad ass.