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A nuanced exploration of ethical dilemmas was stifled by RAW alignment mechanics, which I imagine is one of the reasons they are now fading into obscurity.
Ah yes, BG3's nuanced ethical dilemma of "Do you want to help the poor, refugee, starving, homeless tieflings?" or "Would you rather brutally massacre them all for the lolz and so you can have sex with a hot girl?" xD (this is a jab at the game, not at you.)
I agree that often alignment can be a crutch when it's used as prescriptive rather than descriptive. But Ayn Rand would objectively detect as Neutral (on the evil-good scale) given her belief that the individual should "exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself." This doesn't mean that her ideas are
wrong, as they might have the side effect of improving everyone's life. Or such a society would crash and burn into oppression and misery. So you'd still need to evaluate the merit of her ideas even after knowing her alignment.
