This is my second game jam, first solo, and my game is downloadable. The only way I have been able to get any ratings is by participating in R4R threads that people are posting. I have not made my own. It's my only avenue of marketing and it's primarily downloadable games that are getting the shaft on this because people don't want to click more than twice to get a game going. It's somewhat annoying to have to "hustle" just to get people to play your game. That's why I think the queue works. If they made it so that the more games you rate, the more your game shows up in front of people, it would be a good thing. Also, you could make games hidden once they get to a certain number of ratings which could put other games into the spotlight.
Just my two cents, but I agree that this could have been handled better.