There shouldn't be any "gaming" in the first place.

If people are trying to look at WordPress.org as a marketing platform for themes, that's a problem in and of itself. I agree with wanting to remove freemium themes altogether and moving more towards a model like WordPress.com.

It would be nice to be able to just have a "free or paid" directory. No gray area with the freemium themes. I've heard numerous complaints from clients and people I work with, and it seems like it just causes problems more than anything.