Can you get better just by playing a lot?

Playing chess is by far the most important part of any improvement plan. Study is useful, but practice is vital.

it's certainly fun but with out any other resources you can only learn by reviewing your games and figuring out how you lost. there are lots of fun resources out there.

Carlsen said he isn't into that Russian-old-school style of tearing your finished games apart. He said he doesn't like it. I feel the same way. I know -- we aren't Carlsen.

what fun resources?

I was told once chess is like a pyrimid the more you play the better even when you lose

always play to the end if you can never submit

play for the draw or stalemate there is always something to play for.

learn the basic opening moves...  and get a book on tactics

tactics are important you need to know what a fork or skewer  or pin is to understand the game

what is the difference between a fork, skewer, and pin?

 verylate -- u equate chess with martial arts?

The part of this book that you can read for free via the Kindle sample will answer this question.

https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Tactics-Building-Foundation-Chess-ebook/dp/B06XKG1VZD

i like tactics, some sites offer free ones (chess.com gives 5 free everyday). chessable.com is pretty interesting. 100s of youtube videos. chess.com has free lessons, one a day, and drills. the endgame drills are incredibly helpful. also chess.com/tv has some educational stuff from time to time, always worth checking out.

I have no time for deep studing either. But I keep practicing tatics with some Apps for my smarthphone. (chess king - Tatics for beginners)

After about 200 games I was able to imrove about 150 ranting points, but I play a lot against people that have more than 1000 games and the same ranting as me, so I guess that just tons of playing don't automatically improve your chess, but playing + tatics training, leads to a good improvement.

Just playing chess is active learning without the learning, so it's just active 

So no it doesn't work

Sure, you can improve from just playing alone. Though the process might be slow going. It might take you anywhere from a year to a decade to reach 1600+ in that manner—as you'll be relying on your own conclusions, which may or may not be correct.

You'll improve much faster if you combine playing with studying, and reviewing.

I went to 1500 by only playing and doing 5 tactics a day, after that I study other things and read books and now I am 1900

A lot of it is just practice, the more you play the better you get.