Why do we win/lose so many points per game?

I wish I had the same problem you guys have.  How do I stop my rating from going lower and lower? :(

 Work on tactics and then work on them some more and then do it again, and repeat as necessary!

When you play more games, your rating gets more accurate.

 Yes.  But why does chess.com require so many games per time period in order to achieve a stable RD?

I was just wondering about the ratings earlier coincidently! I have a concern with how many points i lose/win against players!

Im playing a player rated 1886 and my change in rating is Rated - Win: +22  Loss: -42  Draw: -10

Im also playing a player rated 1543  and my change in rating is Rated - Win: +6  Loss: -48  Draw: -21.

How can the losing rating points be so similar? I find it disconcerning that they can be so similar when a lose to a 1500 is almost the same as someone almost 1900 who is close enough to my skill level.

 I agree.  I believe the reaosn this is the case is that on this website, the number of recent games played required to get a stable RD is too high.  I do not intend to ever again (I did have one periond where I just had way too many games going) have a lot of games going at one time and it seems that means I'm forever doomed to a high RD and therefore each win/loss for me will be 30-50 points.  This will probably be enough for me to eventually leave this site.  I hope enough people will complain about this and the powers that be will change the number of games requirement to get a low RD.

interesting conversation.

After 600 games in a little over a year, my current rating breakdown is:

2000+ (3 games) 51W 4L

1800 - 1999 (3 games) 43W 8L

1600 - 1799 (8 games) 37W 21L

below 1600 (1 game) 10W 44L

I don't know if I would like to receive much lower points. I would like to get at least 500 for beating a 2000+ player.

 Your current RD is 100.  Have you not been playing many games lately?  Or, have you been playing about the same number of games you always have and your RD is just not as low as it should be because of this website's caclulation method?

I don't play as many games as I used to. The first half of last year is when I played the most games (@20-25 games at a time and with a time per move of around 1 hour). I don't ever remember my RD being below 70 and 100 is around the highest I remember seeing.

From what I have read thus far, it seems to me that the RD factor is being used to penalize people who play slow or who don't play as many games at a time. I feel that is a bad policy. The consequence is that I lose more points here than at other sites. So why not just play at other sites? Those who are concerned about this are probably a small minority. So it is doubtful chess.com will do any about this since their policies should reflect the needs (or wants) of the many.

 This I will do.

 This is exactly my point.  I don't think drawing two games should cause a decrease such as this unless you drew against two 1300's or something.  I'm shocked there aren't more people concerned with the RD system here at chess.com.  However, if I'm truly in the minority, then I will just have to suck it up or play elsewhere.

That just really seems wrong. It doesn't seem as though that is a fair or accurate reflection of a person's playing ability. That's what ratings are supposed to indicate.

 I agree completely.  I think a slight adjustment to the RD caclulation method would lead to more accurate ratings.  I think a lot of people are suprised at how many points they win/lose each game, but they just don't say anything about it.  Of course, some people proabably only play here and therefore don't have any experiences with which to compare chess.com's rating system.

Anyone know the actual formula for RD instead of just a description of the formula?

 Wow!  Had a bad day or are you always like that?  I meant the specific formula for chess.com not the general formula which was included in the link earlier in this thread.

Does anyone have an educated guess on how many games per rating period one must finish to arrive at an "active" RD?

What if I don't have time to play more games or if I simply don't want to play more. Why should I be penalized for that?

You are not being penalized for it. If you don't play much, then your rating can't be as trusted as much as someone's rating who plays more. Simple as that.

The rating on chess.com is merely a guide for one to measure ones progress against other chess.com players and to find people of approximately the same strength to play against. It's not really something to cry foul about.

I believe that it is something to cry foul about because I have a less reliable rating than those who play more frequently than I do and I don't think there should be any difference. The rating is supposed to be an approximate indication of a player's strength but in my case it is practically meaningless because it goes up and down by such extremes. It's the main reason I don't play here except for vote chess. I play at another site where they use Elo and I trust the rating I have there.