Sadly, if you play online a lot, you will run into the most insulting (and therefore embarrassing) idiots that ever walked the face of the planet. There is some argument as to whether the PSN or Live users are more childish, but PSN director of operations Eric Lempel gives us a clue.

Putting aside Destructoid’s typical hostility that always borders on Microsoft fanboyism (although that particular article might not “border” on anything and may be a flat-out admission), we find that Lempel says the average PSN user is a male adult with a good job to boot:

“Right now, it’s primarily male. The average age is 28 years old, in usually the middle- to higher-income range. They over-index against those with graduate degrees. But it’s expanding.

What we’re finding ever since we’ve introduced services like the video download service, we’re getting more of the household on the PlayStation Network. Some of the top rentals and sales on the video side have been content that probably doesn’t appeal exactly to that 28-year-old male. It’s more those movies that are geared toward women.”

This does make plenty of sense, if one wishes to examine the situation logically. For most of the past three years, the PS3 was by far the most expensive console on the market, and only the hardcore and/or those with a little extra money to burn would purchase it. That, and those with deeper pockets tend to buy the latest and greatest – Blu-Ray included – the instant it becomes available. Therefore, to find the average user is 28 and somewhat well-educated with money in the bank isn’t a huge shock. But Lempel is right; the more casual content that is available on the PSN, combined with the new competitive price tag, the more we’ll see different stats with varying demographics.

We don’t know how this compares to Live, but let’s just say that in my experience with both services, the number of high-pitched, low-IQ voices that flood into my headset on Live is much higher than those on the PSN. Just ignore the rest of Destructoid’s usual slop.