Taking risks are essential to many board games. Just like in real life, your actions will have consequences. Do you leave your old, comfortable job for something potentially better? Do you ask out the person you have a crush on? In a board game the choices may not be as life changing, but in a game like Pandemic, when your next move could save the world or potentially send it to its plague-born doom, you still have to weigh all of your options to find the best choice.