Good stuff, Dan. The first thing that jumps to mind is that these would be nice enhancements to the form plugin. getValue is very similar to fieldValue. I like the logic of your getValue better but I like the idea of returning the array instead of the string (and let the caller join it on whatever char they need).
Mike
Anyway, I've got preview of the plug-in up at: http://www.pengoworks.com/workshop/jquery/field.plugin.htm My intention is too add some of the functionality that people like about qForms into this plug-in as time permits. I'm interested in hearing your feedback on this.