I see a lot of complicated answers here to a very simple question. A real-world example of using short options is to simply sell puts in order to buy the underlying stock at discounted prices. If used in this manner, short puts are actually less risky than simply buying the stock outright and consequently have the same risk graph as the covered call, which is considered an extremely conservative strategy.
Let's say the stock market has a 15% correction. Nobody knows when the correction is going to end and buying the SPY ETF at any point during the correction is like trying to catch a falling knife. So assuming you see value in the stock market, instead of buying a couple of hundred shares right now, you can short 2 put options on the SPY with a strike price about 5% below the current price and 20 days away. You can keep doing this month after month until you finally get assigned the 200 shares of SPY. So you bought lower and got paid for waiting until it got lower.
Obviously, if the stock crashes big after you sold the puts, then this strategy will be catastrophic. BUT, it will be less catastrophic than if you had bought the 200 shares outright or averaged down without a stop (which a lot of "risk-averse" people like to do). One way to mitigate this unlimited risk is to not let the strategy get out of control and buy back the short puts as soon as they go in-the-money for example. Option prices can move very fast, so even though shorting puts is a simple strategy, you have to watch your position very carefully.