Early Addition: NPC streamers level up on SoHo streets

Early Addition is a daily newsletter to guide you through New York City news, plus other tidbits from around the internet. Sign up here to get the full version in your inbox every weekday morning.

It’s a beautiful Tuesday morning in New York City where you might just end up in the background of an NPC streamer’s video while walking down the streets of SoHo.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the NPC, or non-player character, persona, and why people enjoy watching their videos. But what I have learned is that a pair of brothers have taken the concept to a whole new level by livestreaming their bit on Manhattan streets, and raking in cash through doing so.

Here’s what else is going on:

• If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Jay-Z exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library, you still have time! “The Book of Hov” exhibit was extended to December 4th.
• OMNY, the MTA’s tap-to-pay system for subways and buses, is most used in gentrified neighborhoods, according to the MTA. The station with the highest uptake of OMNY being the L train station at Bedford Avenue in the heart of Williamsburg.
• People who hold NYPD placards are notorious for parking on sidewalks, mostly in front of precincts, hindering pedestrians from passing safely. But after four decades, one Brooklyn middle school got them to stop doing it in front of their building.
• Ice Spice’s pumpkin spice Munchkin drink is coming for the McDonald’s Grimace shake’s unofficial title of being the most sought-after frozen fast-food drink concoction this year.
• Bally’s casino is launching a free shuttle bus service in the Bronx beginning Oct. 1 which will run on a loop about every 30 minutes shuffling riders between the casino and various commercial corridors in the borough.
• Vassar College in Poughkeepsie is known as one of the first higher learning institutions for women in the country, yet a new lawsuit claims the school systemically paid female professors less than their male counterparts.
• If you have a pet, you know they can be almost as high maintenance as children. That’s why this non-profit helps low-income New Yorkers who struggle to care for their pets because of an illness or disability. The organization also started to board pets for people entering substance abuse treatment programs.
• And finally, step parents matter!