From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary the word augment means to make greater, stronger, or more intense and the word reality just means something real. Something that is a more intense version of reality seems to make the phrase augmented reality sound like an oxymoron. How could something be even greater and more intense than real life? Maybe the phrase should of have been coined assisted reality or digital overlay software or something else since much of AR is seen as a way to assist humans. Maybe in the future AR will simply be reality, and then we can talk about the intensity.
What is augmented reality? What augmented reality isn't is something like the Matrix, where reality is completely replaced by a digital world (Di-di-di Digimon).
Here's one possible example in the distant future:
http://youtu.be/i93_rRdnYvA?t=18m30s (please click the link since the whole episode is 23 minutes long, and if it doesn't jump straight to the 18:30 minute mark please try to navigate there)
A city that has no substance other than a rock base, the rest of the city was all digital and rendered to its inhabitants through their digital terminals. Some of the inhabitants were never actually ever in the city and only existed through proxy, because they could not move from life support. I will say that his show "Fractale" has some bias against AR and stars a main character who likes to live in the good old ways, in a real brick house and hoards real objects. (Spoilers: they also sort of destroy the AR system, and humans have a few years to relearn all their skills to return to reality). This is a very extreme example of augmented reality, where the whole entire world is covered by a digital overlay, but does give you and idea of what it's about and what it can become.
Augmented reality consists of using a computer to take in input from reality, processing it, enhancing it, and then outputting the enhanced version to the user. Enhancing is the most ambiguous part, as most AR is seen as enhancing the image (sight is our most dominant sense anyways), but can be used to enhance sound and possibly other inputs that we cannot even sense. There are digital sensors for radioactive substances, ultraviolet light, heat, and in a sense night vision glasses are a form of AR since their creation. Though night vision glasses completely blanket your vision with heat sensors, and is not so intuitive for normal people to understand how to use.
Nowadays AR is mainly used to supplement reality rather than replace it. Google glass is something that comes to mind when talking about augmented reality. It overlays extra information to supplement experiences in reality, such as information concerning buildings that you see in front of you. The good things about this is that it will be context sensitive, and also very powerful for education and maybe even advertising. It is also designed for a normal user, and tries to be as well hidden and immersive as possible; only pops up when you need it and disappears when you don't. UI designers for the Google glass project could learn a few things from UI designers of immersive games.
Augmented reality in gaming makes me think of the 3DS with their AR cards, and each card activates a mini game that the user can player. Rather than using AR to supplement the user with information, AR is simply a game overlaid in the foreground and reality acts are a background for it. The interaction with reality is kind of lack luster with AR games at the moment, as you need specific cards that are used to represent digital entities in the real world. These cards can be placed anywhere in reality, but the user is always constrained to using these cards to play the game. The next step would probably be to scan real life objects and simply make games out of those, allowing for all sorts of things to be augmented and turning anything into a game.
Merriam-Webster. (2013). Augment - definition and more from the free merriam-webster dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/augment
Merriam-Webster. (2013). Reality - definition and more from the free merriam-webster dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reality
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