That. Of course, there will always be CHARACTERS that want to screw the PCs...but, well...that is as it should be!

One thing I have heard (and I think was mentioned in several 2e rules) is that a cursed item may result from an attempt to make a useful item and failing. A bowl of watery death was probably supposed tto command elementals...a horn of bubbles was supposed to be a horn of blasting, etc.