Is unrated chess pointless?

No. Unrated chess is not pointless. I love unrated chess because I can slowly build up my games that way without having to worry about losing points or confidence. It is good for beginners and even masters at times to slow down and take things one step at a time from square one :). Happy playing my friends.

If I want to play someone rated far below me, like if they are a beginner and I'm helping them learn the game, what good does it do me to receive two ratings ponts for winning a game easily, and what good does it do to have them lose ratings points?  It doesn't really help my rating any and could discourage them by seeing their ratings points drop.  So unrated is better.

I have a nephew I play here on occasion, but he's rated far below me and he's never beaten me.  I don't need to inflate my rating a few points at a time whenever we play, and he doesn't need to have his rating drop lower.

the rating of the person you beat stands for nothing in an unrated game. A 2000 may aswell be 1200. some people play unrated games to preserve their ratings because they are scared of losing. i think it is pointless but sometimes i play unrated games when i've drinking which is also pointless so the answer is yes. from my own experience unrated chess is pointless unless the opponent is giving you an instructive game.

i play unrated chess with my girlfriend because i'm trying to help her learn.
i could easily crush her in any game but instead i help her out so that she understands better positions and so on. 

You dont play chess for rating, you play chess for chess! Chess is not rating!

I've been trying to teach my wife better positions for years.  Some day I hope to teach her how to play chess.

Is she a slow learner?

I've been trying to get my son to play unrated games so I can coach him on tactics. Don't want to do it in a real game--a loss would cost me 20 points! But he wants to play rated. Inevitable I'll lose at some point. (He's under 1200 strength.)

it depends on the conversation, in my experience.

This one is unrated, but would you say it's boring? :)

http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=69653706

yeah she's kind of slow. she does better in games but then in the middle she forgets everything and starts throwing blunders around like a madman.