About rooting the ouya..

[Naruzo1999]

I'm a new ouya owner and so far i'm loving the OUYA. :D
Iv herd that you can run APKs on the ouya by sideloading. (which i have tried, and surprising it works)
Iv also herd you can sideload the Google Play Store to the ouya console.
Iv seen some videos on how to get the Google Play Store to the ouya, and i understand how to install it and all but this is what i'm worried about.
It seems like you have to root the ouya in order to get the Google Play Store, and i don't know what "rooting the ouya" means :/

What does the root do to the ouya?
Positives? the negatives of rooting your ouya?
Still a bit confused, and i'm kinda worried about it.
I don't want anything bad happening to my ouya console.
Also why do i have to root the ouya in order to get the Google Play Store but when i had installed the Amazon Play Store, i didn't have to root it.

Anything would help :)
Thanks in advance :)