> if you value your time and security, just keep a dedicated Windows system for gaming
Not everyone has the space and money for this. In fact most people don't and when you buy a powerful PC for games you most likely also want to use it for your other PC tasks too - especially if you are a developer. Even if one has both the space and money, they may just not want to "task switch" between different machines (e.g. i do have a bunch of computers in my place but 99% of the time i use just one). Also switching between games and work in a different virtual desktop or whatever is way faster and more convenient than even rolling your chair to some other desk to another PC.
> I keep all the things I actually care about or don't want stolen on my Linux system with full drive encryption and I keep a gaming PC that has absolutely nothing I care about on it. The Windows system is never allowed to access my email, credit cards, or anything I care about in any way.
Neat, but the same applies if you are running games under Wine since everything is running under Linux and not Windows. You do not even need to have Windows installed. If you are too paranoid to even touch an EXE because it might access other stuff in your home directory you can run the games under a different user with access only to that user's files.
> worry about the insane level of insecurity and bugs from the gaming sphere. The amount of RCE in gaming is pretty bad.And, you know, sometimes your friends message you and want to play a game that is new and from a developer nobody can really trust.
If you do not trust a developer it is much easier and safer to not download and run the game. If there is any issue with the game, it'll be quickly figured out. It is not any different than a game targeting Linux or really any other piece of software.
> Combine that with the fact that the first thing almost every game does is phone home to try and download new executable content and IMO you would be irresponsible to keep your important documents/credentials on a system that is also used for gaming.
This is what pretty much EVERY software - game related or not - for pretty much EVERY OS that has some form of automatic updates does! Singling out Windows games is a bit of a double standard when your browser could be updated right tomorrow with a brand new bug that enables sites to access your SSH keys (AFAIK this has actually happened with Firefox on Linux).
If anything, at least if you are playing singleplayer games, it is much easier to keep games to a known well working version when you stick with DRM-free games like those you can buy from GOG, Zoom Platform, GamersGate (not all are DRM-free there but there is a filter), Humble Bundle (similar case, not all are DRM-free), etc instead of Steam.
Though even if you stick with Steam, i doubt Valve (or any other game store) wants to distribute actual malware from their service and things will either be fixed or removed.